Here is a sensitive, richly stated response from Phyllis Chesler to Rebecca Walker’s letter.

I want to draw special attention to the following (although it’s certainly not the most revealing or original of Chesler’s many insights):

The children of greatly talented public figures, as Alice surely is, are often sacrificed to the Great Work. The children can barely breathe in the shadow of — usually it’s the Great Man; in this case, it’s the Great Woman. However, great men are allowed every excess and failure; great women are never forgiven for making a single mistake.