Dana Perino: Only Male Politicians Commit Adultery
Source: mensdaily
By Robert Franklin, Esq. | Jun 28, 2009
Well, that didn't take long. With the unfortunately predictable political sex scandals continuing to grab headlines in the MSM, and the astonishing amount of commentary on them, I'm only surprised that a blog like this one from former Bush Press Secretary Dana Perino in the National Review didn't come out earlier (National Review, 6/25/09).
From Clinton and Spitzer to Ensign and Sanford, and with plenty more in between, there's nothing the MSM likes better than a good, preferably kinky, sex scandal involving a highly placed public official. For MSM reporters, these stories have everything - sex, power, betrayal, weeping wives, disgrace and lots more. Perhaps best of all, they require no thought on the part of the reporter. There are no tedious issues to grapple with, no statistics to sort out, no ethical gray areas. It's simple.
But in Perino's case, she does think, and that's where she runs into trouble. According to her, the salient feature of these scandals is that it's men who are the wrongdoers. And what that means is crystal clear to her - elect women to office and poof! no more sex scandals. Because for sure, women don't commit adultery. Perino knows this because "No woman I know has the time for such trysts, nor do I know any who say the (sic) desire one. They’re too busy trying to keep all the plates spinning at home, at work, and at the gym to make sure none fall and break." (If anyone can explain the meaning of that last sentence, let me know.)
Who could argue against such irrefutable evidence?
OK, I know what you're going to say. Senator Ensign's tryst was with the wife of his chief of staff, so that's one woman who did commit adultery. But only one! And presumably Perino doesn't know her, so her cherished beliefs are intact.
The inconvenient truth contradicts her mythology of female virtue and male perfidy. Although most studies of adultery in America show that men do it more than women, others show it to be a dead heat. This summary of studies gives a pretty good idea of who has sex outside of marriage.
For my money, the best study of sex generally is Sex in America: A Definitive Survey by Michael, Gagnon, Laumann and Kolata. It found that about 25% of men and 15% of women have ever in their lives had sex with someone to whom they weren't married, while they were married. But, as the linked-to piece makes clear, that almost certainly undercounts the number of female adulterers.
I won't go into all the permutations of all the studies. But suffice it to say that the paucity of female office holders getting caught with their pants down is more a function of the paucity of female office holders than it is of female virtue.
