Here's the original letter (this one is to Nathaniel Branden) and their responses.

-----Original Message-----
From: Adriana Salvia-QueerTelevision
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 11:34 AM
To: our three gurus
Subject: self-esteem TV story (same-sex abuse tale)

Happy New Year to you Dr. Branden. Sorry it's been a couple of months since we were last in touch. To refresh your memory, I'm the producer in Toronto who contacted you in respect to getting your opinion via e-mail regarding same-sex partner abuse. Our approach to this will be as follows: The woman who received abuse in her relationship will be cast in silhouette and tell us her tale. Here, I'll summarize the tale for you.

Maria moved from the Southwest to San Francisco. She was eager to explore her newly discovered sexuality. She subsequently met a woman 15 years older than her. This woman introduced Maria to feminist friends, potlucks, etc. Within weeks the two were living together. Maria soon identified that what she once viewed as attentiveness, she now saw as obsessive jealousy in her partner. Maria was stalked. If a woman so much as talked to Maria, she was grabbed and dragged home, where fighting, slapping, hair pulling and tackling left Maria's body and spirit bruised. After the beatings, her partner would turn rueful, buying airplane tickets to visit Maria's family---Maria couldn't afford this since her job only paid her $7/hr.

The abuse continued on. One night Maria tried to make her escape at 3 AM. Maria's partner discovered her--beat her and then raped her.

Since the nature of the story is looking at self-esteem through the prism of a serious problem like partner abuse, how could you advise Maria? Understanding that most of your subject matter focuses more on issues for straight individuals, how would you rate the comparison of the abuse story of homosexual to straight couples? And further what kind of commentary self-esteem-wise would you make regarding Maria--and how would your commentary about her rate in comparison to the kind of commentary you'd make self-esteem-wise if the abused were straight.

As I told you on the phone, appreciating that your time is limited I'm not proposing we get the answer from you in person. An e-mailed response back to me at whatever length you require--is more than adequate for our purposes.

Thanks for your time. Is a week sufficient time for you to come up with your analysis?

I'll look forward to hearing from you.

Adriana Salvia,
Co-Producer, QueerTelevision, Citytv
299 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON, M5V 2Z5
(416) 591-5757

Their responses :

Barbara DeAngelis
Nathaniel Branden
John Chaffee