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Megan Carpentier of Jezebel raises yet another weekly objection to New York Times opinionist-in-residence Ross Douthat’s weekly… um… possible hypothesizing about women, feminism, sex, and relationships.

Ross Douthat, he of the thesis that feminism is the root of all women’s unhappiness, has a new thesis: it also causes marital unhappiness and infidelity.

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Ok, so, let’s make sure I understand this correctly. Feminism (and safe sex) make for boring relationships designed only for upward social mobility, which is good for society and bad for relationships; but sexual freedom has empowered the lower class to make poor decisions about marriage and having a bunch of unsafe sex that Douthat doesn’t like in the first place? So, he likes feminism, but he hates it? Is feminism Douthat’s mom and does he have an Oedipal complex?

Douthat’s got a solution to the problem he’s yet to define really well, but which seemingly boils down to the fact that smart, career-oriented women don’t have enough wild sex (possibly with Ross Douthat) and dumb sluts have too much.

She said it here.

I’m not exactly sure what Douthat’s deal is. Prior to moving to the NYT he blogged conservatively about all sorts of issues. Since landing the gig he seems to be putting way more effort into this one topic.

And…

And…

I’m not sure I can agree with Carpentier’s assessment.

I mean, he often sounds the way unmarried people do when speaking authoritatively about marriage, or the way childless women or men talk with assurance about pregnancy and parenting, or… well… the way reluctant virgins or aloof celibates speak with certainty about what sex is like.

So I wanted to ask if anybody knows if the guy’s actually spent a lot of time in any kind of relationships with women. Because so much of what he says sounds more like he’s read a lot about it. More like he knows what to expect from romance, marriage, or reciprocated lust than he actually knows about it.

Anyway, since it sounds like the guy’s not going to stop blathering about it anytime soon it would help me, and maybe others, to know if he’s ever had sex. or been in a relationship. Or even had a girlfriend.

Not that there’s anything wrong with being better read than experienced. It just wouldn’t be very helpful if you planned to continue pPontificating about it on the editorial page of the flipping New York Times.

Update: See also Dana Goldstein’s take.