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Katha Pollitt and Andrew Sullivan

the breakfast table
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from: Katha Pollitt

Viaggravation

Posted Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at 12:33 PM ET

Good morning, Andrew,

Lots of New York Times news today. India conducted three underground nuclear tests of bombs it's never quite admitted having, so now maybe Pakistan will test the bombs it's never quite admitted having. Nice to have all that nuclear capability out in the open! Around the globe, more and more people have telephones and Internet access (Yay!) but more and more people lack toilets or even latrines. In nuclear-upfront India, for example, less than half the population has sanitation. Jane Brody says there's an epidemic of lung cancer among women, even after quitting smoking (uh-oh)--54 pack-years (365 packs count as a year) is the danger point, though, so I counted up and only came up with 24. Well maybe 26. Let's say 28 to be absolutely sure. Whew! On a more cheerful note, Mayor Giuliani favors domestic partnership legislation. Doesn't look good for Dr. Dobson and Gary Bauer. Even National Review is telling them to cool it.

But what I really want to talk about is the Viagra coverage. Have you noticed how negative the lifestyle pieces and columns have been? the news stories are all wonders-of-modern-science; the analysis is all Oh no, there goes marriage! Apparently it is only impotence that keeps middle-aged, or even old, men with their wives. The coverage has been so cruel to women. For instance, Eric Wee in the Wash Post when the story broke began his Outlook piece on how Viagra will destabilize comfortably low-burner marriages with a clinical description of a fiftysomething wife who weighs 200 pounds, wears polyester pants and has her stomach spilling out over the waist band. No sex for her, thank you! The Sunday Times ("Some Couples May Find Viagra a Home Wrecker") was in a similar vein, concluding with a pinochle game at Century Village in Florida. Says 73-year-old Sol of his coevals who may take Viagra, "they'll take one look at the woman they've been married to for 50 years and immediately lose it...What these guys need is not a pill but an 18-year-old girl."

Ha, ha. I suspect old Sol is about as sexually appealing as a dried lizard in his stupid white shoes and baseball cap. I'll bet he hasn't said a sweet word to his wife since l953. I bet there's a reason why his kids don't call. The vanity of men--heterosexual men--is truly incredible.

Cheers?
Katha

the breakfast table
entries
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from: Katha Pollitt

Viaggravation

Posted Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at 12:33 PM ET
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Katha Pollitt is a columnist at The Nation. Andrew Sullivan is a senior editor at the New Republic.
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