In August, architecture critic and author Philip Nobel wrote a piece for Elle about his affair with his twenty-something research assistant and subsequent divorce from his wife of ten years. The response online, particularly from women, was huge. Run a search for “Philip Nobel” and you’ll find freelance journalist Lindsay Beyerstein’s “Worst Person On Earth” treatise among the top three.

There's nothing like a politician admitting that he got it on with a woman who is not his (powerful) wife to provide an opportunity to explore gender roles and sexuality. Many of us thought that the Elliot Spitzer debacle was a ripe opening to talk about the suffocating Madonna/whore dichotomy that women (and men) suffer through.