Ed you are really pathetic. A sexual relationship between consenting adults has no similarities whatsoever with "sending girls off at bleeding age" as you so crudely put it.

SH certainly has a lot to do with power and who has it, but it is beyond the scope of reason to expect people to not express their attrations for one another. SH is when there are penalties to the less empowered for rejecting the empowered.

I would be hard pressed to say NOW has not had a double standard with regards to republicans and democrats. It discredits them that they define SH one way for their political opponents and another way for political allies. As long as there was no improper coercion, Gingrich, Barr, Livingston, Packwood, Thomas, et al had as much right as any one on the planet to be attracted to someone and act on that attraction.