Harassed? Just Say No

Weighing in on the ongoing discussions about sexual harassment, feminist Camille Paglia says just say no to the sex police.

“An antiseptically sex-free workplace is impossible and unnatural. … While men must behave honorably (Governors and Presidents should not be dropping their pants in front of female employees or secretly preying on buxom young interns), women must also watch how they dress and behave. … We don’t want a society of surveillance by old maids and snitches. The proper mission of feminism is to encourage women to take personal responsibility without running to parental authority figures for help.

“Women should be taught not that they are passive wards of the state but that sex is a great human comedy where the joke is always on us.” (From March 23 Time)

Just wondering: Editors at Glamour magazine tossed out this thought among the lessons from the Monica-Bill flap: “Someone can be a good president and a bad husband. Wouldn’t it be nice to find out if someone can be a good president and a bad wife?” (From April Glamour)

Think about it: Percentage of women in the U.S. who own a gun 11.6. Percentage of divorced and widowed women who own a gun 29.8. (From April Marie Claire)

Heading for the bottom line: According to the January Mothering magazine, the services provided by stay-at-home moms would be worth (given average market rates for these duties) $35,828 a year.

Services include child care ($20,800), transportation ($3,120), errands ($2,600), cleaning ($3,120), laundry ($884), cooking ($2,210), bill paying ($221), grocery shopping ($663) and miscellaneous ($2,210).

If this is the case, even without children we’re in the money. At most houses, even with a full-time job outside the home, someone still cooks, cleans, does laundry, pays bills, grocery shops, etc. Unless elves show up and start doing these things, we figure we should be paid $15,028 at year’s end. (From March/April Utne Reader)

Quote of the week: Icelandic rock singer Bjork on feminists: “You know, feminists really tire me, they really bore me to death. Especially my generation. I can relate to it if you’re talking about my mother’s age or my grandmother’s age and they’re still angry and upset. … For women to stand up and say, ‘It’s just not the same, men get all the changes, it’s so hard to be a woman today,’ they’re basically dissing all the women in this century who have fought. … The cage has been opened, and what you’ve got to do … is walk out of it.” (From March/April Utne Reader)

Susan English is the Weekend Editor at The Spokesman-Review, contact her by mail at 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201; by e-mail at susane@spokesman.com; or by phone at 459-5488.