WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brushed off criticism Sunday of a ham-handed screed he wrote in the early 1970s dealing with rape fantasies, saying it was simply an attempt to address power dynamics — much like in the erotic novel “50 Shades of Grey.”
“This is a piece of fiction that I wrote in 1972, I think,” the Vermont senator told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“That was 43 years ago. It was very poorly written and if you read it, what it was dealing with was gender stereotypes, why some men like to oppress women, why other women like to be submissive, you know, something like ‘Fifty Shades of Grey,’” he said.
The essay, titled “Man–andWoman,” appeared in the alternative newspaper the Vermont Freeman, and includes passages about a woman fantasizing about being raped by three men.
“Women adapt themselves to fill the needs of men, and men adapt themselves to fill the needs of women,” Sanders penned. He asks regarding men: “What is it they want from a woman? Are they at fault? Are they perpetrating this man-woman situation? Are they oppressors?”
After Mother Jones magazine unearthed the article last week, Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs called it a “dumb attempt at dark satire in an alternative publication.”
Sanders has jumped in polls to become Hillary Rodham Clinton’s top Democratic challenger.
