Here's what I don't get about (alleged) sexual harassers. If they're so interested in having sex with inappropriate partners, why don't they make the effort to figure out what might arouse them? Is there a woman alive who ever read an account of (alleged) sexual harassment who thought, "Ooh, yeah, that's a real turn-on"? Even Dominique Strauss-Kahn couldn't resist, on exiting the bathroom, dropping his bath towel and grabbing the nearest hotel chambermaid.Who the hell taught him seduction technique, Harpo Marx? Aren't the French supposed to be good at this?
I have never (to my knowledge) committed sexual harassment. But I can tell you this much. If I ever did, my opening bid wouldn't be to reach over and put my hand on my victim's leg and then reach for her genitals. Even if she did tell me I was so inspirational that I ought to run for president. (An experience, incidentally, I'm still waiting for.)
Sexual harassment is wrong mainly because it's an abuse of power. And of course it's usually a betrayal of somebody's wife or husband. But it's also, on the evidence, really low-quality sex. My old friend Charlotte Hays once wrote that the prevalent type of sex found in Washington was "Shriner's convention sex," utterly devoid of eroticism, just a lot of rude drunken grunting in a closet. Right again, Charlotte.