Saturday, February 6, 2010

A Double Standard?

I find it incomprehensible that no one objected to Senator Scott Brown having posed nude in Cosmopolitan magazine. Granted it was in 1982 and can be considered a youthful indiscretion, but can you imagine the uproar it would cause if it were discovered that Nancy Pelosi had posed in the nude? Or Hilary Clinton? Or any female member of the Congress? It boggles the imagination!

We have become so inured of misbehavior among our elected representatives that we seem to have grown tolerant of it. That is, if it is MALE misbehavior! Women have not yet achieved equal status with men. Oh, we can misbehave, but not if it involves sexual impropriety. Fiscal impropriety, yes, but sexual, no.

Some women can and do commit sexual improprieties. But it is not acceptable to be found out, unless of course, you’re a movie star. Men seem to enjoy a greater impunity, unless the misbehavior is outrageous. I rather suspect that other men secretly relish the sexual exploits of wayward men.

I am not advocating that women should behave the way that many men do and doubtless will continue to do. I am simply advocating that we all be honest about recognizing that a new kind of double standard exists. Some behaviors are allowed for men but not for women. I would advocate that men and women behave with some dignity and set a better example for our children.