Pen-Elayne on the Web

The "S" Word

Mark Morford "In Defense of Sluts." Personally, I don't agree with his theory that a double standard of judging sexual activity exists "Because women are more powerful. Because women control and contain and embody the most potent of energies this world has to offer: its sex, its reproduction, its libido...women do indeed have a higher degree of responsibility with their sex because it is their most potent and divine strength." News to me that we control the terms of sex. Tell that to rapists, most of whom are men. Tell that to sex traffickers, most of whom I presume are male as well. We "control" relatively bupkiss in most societies, Morford. Even Lysistrata was written by a guy. Women have sex, men want sex and are willing to use their societal power to do all sorts of things to women (psychologically and physically), therefore women have power? Um, no. I'm sorry, this kind of (male) thinking really bothers me, it absolutely keeps perpetuating the very double standard it claims to eschew. It's like the myth of the superwoman, celebrating the ultra-competent gal who works herself to exhaustion both on the job and at home rather than asking why the man of the house isn't doing the same double-duty. The key, folks, is sharing. Sex, housework, power, all of it should be a partnership. And as long as double standards exist, most of which work in favor of men (as a group) and against women (as a group), it's just willful blindness to insist that women "are more powerful" in just about any area.