August 10, 2013 5:56 AM

As any Republican knows, what good is a woman without a man to take care of her?

A woman’s “greatest fear in life” is losing a man’s support, and they desire nothing more than to marry “a man who worships me and whom I worship.” At least, that’s what Rep. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said in 1997 in a column published by the Harvard Crimson:

I have been asking women two questions. My first question was “What is your greatest fear in life?” Uniformity characterized the responses. (Yes, these are actual responses from Cliffies; I did not fabricate them.) “Watching my husband walk out on me.” “Losing my lover.” “Getting a divorce.”

My second question was very similar: “What is your deepest hope in life?” Again, the responses were uniform. “Finding and holding onto the love of my life.” “Being a good wife and mother.” “Marrying a man who worships me and whom I worship.”

Really?

My sample is admittedly small and perhaps unrepresentative. If it is representative-I tend to think it is-then maybe men can unlock the secret to a woman’s heart and soul.

“Cliffies” in this context refers to Radcliffe College, an elite women’s college that began to merge with Harvard in the 1960s. So Cotton is claiming that women at one of the the most famous and selective universities in the world live in terror of someday finding themselves without a man.

The remainder of his column envisions a struggle between Christian right groups like the Promise Keepers, a men’s organization that rose to prominence in the 1990s, and “feminists,” who he criticizes for wanting the right to seek a divorce. As an alternative to this scourge of couples who have the legal right to end unhappy marriages, Cotton points to so-called “covenant marriage.”

Covenant marriage is an arrangement, originally proposed by former Louisiana state Rep. Tony Perkins (R), that allows couples to effectively sign away their right to a no-fault divorce. Couples who sign up for this relationship, Cotton explains, “can divorce only with fault, defined as abandonment, physical abuse, adultery or conviction of a capital crime.” So a couple that is merely miserable together must remain married. Forever.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on August 10, 2013 5:56 AM.

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