The Feminist Mistake

Mona Charen

Mr. Aram Bakshian Jr., former chief speechwriter for President Reagan, provoked a summer squall here in Washington by suggesting, in a book review for national review (which Mr. Bakshian egregiously titled “Two Cheers for Rape”), that something politically unacceptable was going on in the imaginations of American women. The ungovernable appetite for lurid romance novels (women purchased $300-million worth of them last year), Bakshian concluded, reveals something about feminine fancy he had “long suspected but would never have dared publish.” Mrs. Hazen, the heretical author, dared to assert that women fantasize about being ravished—preferably by a duke or marquis and best after having been surprised skinny dipping past midnight.

About the Author

Mona Charen

Mona Charen is a syndicated columnist, the policy editor of The Bulwark, and the host of the podcast Beg to Differ.

Featured Tags

Equal Rights Amendment

Mona Charen

Mr. Aram Bakshian Jr., former chief speechwriter for President Reagan, provoked a summer squall here in Washington by suggesting, in a book review for national review (which Mr. Bakshian egregiously titled “Two Cheers for Rape”), that something politically unacceptable was going on in the imaginations of American women. The ungovernable appetite for lurid romance novels (women purchased $300-million worth of them last year), Bakshian concluded, reveals something about feminine fancy he had “long suspected but would never have dared publish.” Mrs. Hazen, the heretical author, dared to assert that women fantasize about being ravished—preferably by a duke or marquis and best after having been surprised skinny dipping past midnight.