In the April edition of Men’s Health, Allan from San Antonio asked advice columnist Nicole Beland the following question: “My sexually repressed wife can’t even say ‘sex’ without whispering. How can I help her open up?”
Here’s how Beland started her response: “It’s not easy to undo damage caused by years of exposure to Catholic-school nuns or overly conservative parents.”
It would never occur to Beland that a woman who is sexually repressed might have been molested by her stepfather growing up. No, for Beland it is empirically obvious that Sister Mary Alice did it. Either that or the Fox News Network.
Imagine some poor soul asking about his sexually promiscuous wife. Imagine Beland answering, “It’s not easy to undo damage caused by years of exposure to Jewish school teachers or overly liberal parents.” Yeah, keep imagining.
This wouldn’t matter if the magazine had a low circulation. But it pulls in big numbers—over 1.8 million per issue. Contact the executive editor of Men’s Health, Bill Phillips atBill.phillips@rodale.com
