Frankly, I think these comments about alleged misogyny in my expressing my opinion, coming from women who have come to know me--sometimes actually in person--say far more about the women who are making these comments than they do about me. I'm still waiting for someone to explain to whom I have been insensitive, and why.
If you are going to respond to me, keep Karl's comment about "leftovers" out of it, and quote me accurately.
And to be honest, I'm a bit taken aback by your last comment. Do you really have this in the back of your mind when dealing with other people's children? This must be awful.
Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Children terrify me. I don't dislike them. I'm not against them. Maybe some readers will remember that I even said I felt Ennis was right to put his children before Jack and his relationship to Jack. But I do not like to be around anybody's children, and certainly not alone with them.
While the scandal in the Roman Catholic Church teaches us that pedophilia is, indeed, something that parents and society must be continually vigilant against, it is also true that innocent lives have been ruined by groundless charges of various kinds of abuse that were ultimately proved false. Just a few years ago, a schoolteacher--a woman, I might add--from New Jersey, not too far from Philadelphia, was convicted and went to jail on charges of sexual abuse. Ultimately the charge was proved false, and her conviction was overturned, and she was freed, but her life is ruined, her good name gone, because always there will be this cloud over her.
All it takes is a word or gesture misunderstood, and you're done for. It's a little bit like being accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692. Even when you're innocent it's almost impossible to prove it.
I'm sorry to have run on so long on something so OT, but I find I'm actually shaking as I type this--that's how strongly this affects me.