Wednesday, July 05, 2006

From the files of the Dep't. of Dropped Jaws

Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield on women's ability to refuse sexual advances:
The moral authority of women is a heavy counterweight to the physical superiority of men. With that authority, women have a right to say no to any proposal or proposition from a (generally stronger) man that does not suit them, and be obeyed. But men's willingness to obey depends on women's being held to a higher standard of morality, especially sexual morality, than men. If a woman cannot say, “How dare you!” to a man, her defenses are sapped because without a moral objection she has only her whim to rely on. In response, a man will think and will say, “Why not? We are equal and so my desire is equal to yours.”
Apparently a woman's sovereignty over her own body is not a moral claim.
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