Ends and means

Your obituary of Sir Kenneth Dover (18 March) is brief, but still finds space to quote Mary Beard as saying that his book Greek Homosexuality (1978) got "to the bottom of things". Beard admits this is "an awful pun", but that does not excuse its infantile homophobia. And had she re-read that dignified and powerful book, she would know that "the bottom" was not so central to Greek homosexual practices as her joke implies.

Gregory Woods, Professor of gay and lesbian studies, Nottingham Trent University.