So Philip Weiss recently “reported” in New York Magazine on the secret lives of married men. And the gals at Slate’s XX Factor blog responded, calling the piece “not an outré confession but a fiftysomething baby boomer’s long-winded attempt to rationalize his desire to screw a variety of women despite being married.” I concur. Though Weiss’ article presents itself as provocative and edgy, the piece is inflected with the naïve, wishful rhetoric of 1970s thinking about sex. Here’s the XXers’ take:

Weiss explains that men “hunger for sexual variety” and determines that this hunger is “a basic and natural and more or less irresistible impulse.” He reports that men are using more porn than ever and quotes Mark Penn wondering what will happen when women “realize it.” He notes that sexless marriages among power couples are endemic. He harps on his own desire for “some[thing] strange.” Yet when his exasperated wife proposes an open marriage in response to all his bellyaching, he flinches at the thought that she might avail herself of the new rules, too.

Ah, Phillip. Double standard, much?