Letter: ME is not a cosy 'duvet' illness - and it doesn't just afflict women

I HAVE ME and am too ill to reply at length to Ms Showalter's very silly article on women with ME. I can only hope that your readers are not so "suggestible" that they may not spot the unscrupulous self-promotion which underlines so many of Ms Showalter's wilfully provocative and shamefully unscholarly pronouncements on ME and Gulf War Syndrome.

Let me just say this. There is nothing cosy about ME as the label "duvet woman" suggests. Deeper insight is sometimes a by-product of living with chronic illness (not just ME). I can't help wondering if Ms Showalter were ever to experience ME first hand, the "spiritual insight" she so belittles might just bestow upon her that true blessing: humility.

Sophie Smith

London SW11