NEW YORK — There was a time, not that long ago, when people could do stupid, sexy, reckless things without a committee showing up afterward to explain what had gone wrong. A girl could take her clothes off because she liked the way the room changed when she did. A guy could put on lipstick, heels, a dog collar, a feather boa, or nothing but bad intentions and call it a Saturday night. People drank, danced, flirted, lied, strutted, got paid, got laid, got weird, got lost in the music, and nobody needed to write a dissertation about the collapse of civilization before last call. Now every thrill comes with a diagnosis. Every wink needs a framework. Every little act of consensual chaos gets dragged into traffic and flattened beneath ten thousand pounds of theory. Nobody can just WANT anymore. Nobody can just PLAY. Somewhere along the line, pleasure stopped being pleasure and turned into evidence…

NEW YORK CITY — When it comes to equal rights, the left is as guilty as the right. A lot of the states that blocked the ERA may wear red hats now, but back in the ’70s and ’80s they were blue, run by Southern Democrats. Same folks, too. So spare me the cartoon that this is just a Republican problem. It is a control problem. It is a Southern problem. And a Northern problem. And a religion problem. The parties change colors, but the attitude stays the same: MY WOMAN DOES WHAT I SAY (*including when she votes).