Dowd on Letterman

Here's Maureen Dowd in an op-ed in the NY Times airing her views over the David Letterman scandal. This is the opening bit:

Some things have changed since the “Mad Men” era.

The elevator operator isn’t the only black face in the building. Executives no longer sip amber highballs and puff Lucky Strikes all day long.

And other things have not changed.

Some women still wriggle into girdles (now called Spanx). And some men still gravitate toward interns, nannies and secretaries (now called personal assistants).

A few years ago, I wrote that 40 years of feminism had done nothing to alter the fact that older men often see young women in staff support as sirens. For some men, it’s the very inequality of the relationship that’s alluring, the way these women revolve around them and make life easier, the way they treat Himself like the sunrise and sunset of their universe.

In terms of evolutionary biology, it could be rooted in the fear that aggressive females would be more likely to cheat and the males could end up raising offspring that were not their own.

In romantic terms, it could simply be the erotic pull of proximity. You covet what you see every day, as Hannibal Lecter said, and it can be seductive to get involved with someone who’s already orbiting around you, bringing you pizza with your favorite toppings late at night.

Go read the whole article to get more of Dowd's analysis and opinion.