Letter: Do we need a 'social compass' to plot sexual signals?

Sir: I applaud Angela Lambert's article ('Faced with the sober truth, is it really rape?', 23 August) for being brave enough to say publicly what I have felt privately for some time. 'It takes two to tango' is a phrase which I have been tempted to put to friends who, the morning after, have found themselves victims of their own euphoria - which seems, in the cold light of the hangover, to have been misplaced. I have been there myself, and I support Ms Lambert whem she says that 'feminism is all about being grown up' and taking responsibility for one's actions. It is. We must stop expecting to have our cake (or champagne) and eat it, too.

There are undoubtedly cases of the most appalling abuse of personal rights to which some women have been, and will continue to be, subject. However, there is much to be said for facing up to our own nature (ie, women are sexual beings, too, capable of getting 'carried away' in the heat and alcohol haze of the moment), both before and after such an event.

Yours sincerely,

KAREN PEPALL

London, W9