Thursday, December 2, 2004

Quiet please

From an article in today's Washington Post on materials used in federally funded abstinence-only programs:

Some course materials cited in Waxman's report present as scientific fact notions about a man's need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support." One book in the "Choosing Best" series tells the story of a knight who married a village maiden instead of the princess because the princess offered so many tips on slaying the local dragon. "Moral of the story," notes the popular text: "Occasional suggestions and assistance may be alright, but too much of it will lessen a man's confidence or even turn him away from his princess."
It sounds as though the author(s) of "Choosing Best" never read Lysistrata or Odyssey 19 (it's Penelope who gives Odysseus the crucial advantage of a long-range weapon by devising the test of the bow).

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