Bernie Sanders: 70’s ‘rape fantasy’ essay ‘dumb attempt’ at satire

29 May, 2015 23:20 / Updated 9 years ago

Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt) landed himself in hot water after an old essay of his, in which he described the sexual fantasies of men and the rape fantasies of women, emerged. His campaign spokesman says four decades old work was a satire.

The information about the essay, published in an alternative publication the Vermont Freeman in 1972, appeared in Mother Jones story on Sander’s early political career. His campaign spokesman, Michael Briggs, told CNN that the essay was a “dumb attempt at dark satire in an alternative publication,” and that the writing “in no way reflects his views or record on women. It was intended to attack gender stereotypes of the ‘70s.”

Bernie Sanders Wrote Women Fantasize About Being Raped; Scott Walker to Sign Abortion Ban Even In Rape, Incest Cases http://t.co/KgLLlj9gLA

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The essay, an attempt at exploring male-female sexual dynamics, entitled Man and Woman, opens with a description of the fantasies of men and women.

A man goes home and masturbates his typical fantasy. A woman on her knees, a woman tied, a woman abused. A woman enjoys intercourse with her man – as she fantasizes being raped by 3 men simultaneously,” wrote Sanders in the essay. The essay has a stream-of-consciousness style, incomplete sentences, incomplete dialogue, and takes on big themes of gender roles, sexuality and female submissiveness. The essay ends with the dialogue between a man and a woman on their deteriorating relationship.

“When Bernie got into this race he understood there would be attempts to distract voters from the real issues,” Briggs told CNN. “He is determined to run a campaign that takes on big issues facing the American people and not a campaign of salacious gossip or anything like that.”

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Mother Jones published another article on Friday with an opinion piece written by Sanders in the University of Chicago campus newspaper advocating for sexual liberalization when he in college in 1963.

The administrators of this university have the right to believe that unmarried students should not engage in sexual intercourse. ... However, it is inconceivable and intolerable that these men should have the right to forcibly impose their moral, social, and sexual beliefs on the 2000 student of the college,” he wrote.

Sanders is running for the democratic nomination in the 2016 presidential race up against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A Quinnipiac University poll on Thursday said Sanders is polling at 15 percent, with Clinton at 57 percent among Democratic voters nationwide. He continues a campaign kickoff tour this week in New Hampshire and Iowa.