Dear
Friends,
Good morning. Two New York Times
articles about older women’s sexual appetite got my attention last week. But
before I bring you up to speed on that subject, did you see 20/ 20 on ABC last
Friday night.
During the one-hour show, host John
Stossel examined why American students do not perform as well as students in
other countries. As Betsy and I listened, I wondered what local school board
members, their superintendents, and teachers’ unions were thinking…if they
tuned in?
Stossel was very critical of the U.
S. public school system. He claims that America ranks a distant 25th
in the international pecking order for public education. South Korea is ranked
second. I missed who is first. I particularly remember a Netherlands student
saying hello in five languages and challenging his American peers to do
likewise.
The ABC program blamed America’s
poor showing on teachers unions and the monopoly which public schools enjoy.
That’s a hard pill to swallow when you consider that America’s public schools
spend tons more than their Asian and European competitors do…and America’s
classrooms have fewer students in them.
20/20 suggested that giving families
the option to use alternative schools, funded by the taxpayer, is the only way
to introduce competition. ABC emphasized the dreaded word…vouchers…which school
boards, superintendents, and teacher unions abhor.
My bet is that only a change in the Pennsylvania
Constitution would make public school choice possible, coupled with public
funding. Believe it or not, there are a few brave souls in the state
legislature who believe that a constitutional convention is long over due. I
agree.
Meanwhile, Houston (Texas) became the largest school
district in the country to adopt a merit pay plan for teachers that focuses on
student test scores, according to the Associated Press (Jan.13).
The Houston School Board voted
unanimously to offer teachers as much as $3,000 (per year) in extra pay if
their students improve on state and national tests. “The teachers union does
not approve of the plan, saying it focuses too much on test scores and is too
complicated,” the AP wrote. Most teachers’ unions oppose merit pay. That’s because
unions protect teachers regardless of talent, Stossel says.
The Houston concept is aimed at
rewarding teachers who are in sync with the board’s goals. As Stossel pointed
out, the teacher unions protect its members. He claims that it’s almost
impossible to separate an ineffective teacher from the public school.
And now to women’s sexual appetite.
Let’s begin with Dinitia Smith’s
story in the New York Times (Jan. 13). “Until recently, sex and the older woman
was not a subject much talked about,” she began, opining that people in their
20’s and 30’s would rather not think about their parents’ sex lives.
“But attitudes have been shifting,”
Smith continued. “The generation of women liberated by feminism and the Pill in
the 1960’s aren’t slipping quietly into postmenopausal celibacy and books and
movies are reflecting the change. There is a raft of new books with the message
that women over 50 can be sexually attractive and can have great sex.”
Smith listed several books on the
subject: “Sex and the Seasoned Woman,” by Gail Sheehy; “Better Than I expected:
Straight Talk About Sex After Sixty,” by Joan Price; “Younger Next Year for
Women: Live Like You’re 50- Strong, Fit, Sexy- Until You’re 80 and Beyond,” by
Chris Crowley and Dr. Henry S. Lodge.
The demographics are impressive. The
U. S. census projects 1.5 million female baby boomers will have turned 60 by
the end of this year. At age 68, author Sheehy says that “a seasoned woman is
spicy”…
…Which takes me to an unusual topic…the reverse bordello.
Here are the first three graphs of
Mireya Navarro’s story in the New York Times (Jan. 8). “Picture a pleasure
oasis in the Nevada desert, a collection of luxurious bungalows featuring
bedrooms with fireplaces where sexual fantasies and desires are catered to starting
at $250 an hour.
“But at this house, Heidi’s Stud
Farm, the prostitutes will be hunky men and the patrons women.
“Heidi Fleiss is planning the all-male brothel on 60
acres in Nevada, where prostitution is often legal, and there are more than two
dozen brothels of the conventional sort. Lawyers for Ms. Fleiss, the
ex-Hollywood madam who served time in prison in the late 1990’s on federal
charges related to a high-end call-girl business, plan to apply for a license
this month. Ms. Fleiss, 40, said she expects to have her house of ill repute up
and running later in the year.”
Fascinated, I asked 20 women,
ranging in age from 30 to74, about the reverse bordello. Will Heidi Fleiss be
successful in her venture and if so, will older women choose 25 to 35 year old
hunks, I asked? Conversely, will young women in their 30’s and 40’s pick older
studs in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s?
All but one thought that Ms. Fleiss
would become a zillionaire. And most of them think that older women will opt
for younger studs. They reasoned that because older men shed their wives for
younger playmates, turn about is fair play. They were unsure whether younger
women would select old goats from my age group in the line up.
Drat!
One of our friends likened the
Fleiss enterprise to global warming…whatever that means. Another thought that
groups of women on a Las Vegas holiday would head out to the Fleiss ranch with
enthusiasm and random abandon.
I wonder what the Red Hat Society
would think about the Fleiss bordello? Would they organize a bus tour of Las
Vegas? There are five RHS chapters in the Quakertown area, according to the
Internet search engine, Google. They are: “Draped in Grape,” “Hattitudes Over
the Brim,” “Sassy Scarlet Sirens,” Divine Scarlet Oh Hatters of Richland,” and
“Trinity Red Hat Butterfly’s.”
Google says that the RHS are groups
of women who meet for tea wearing red hats and purple dresses. Can you imagine
a busload of Red Hat ladies arriving at Heidi Fleiss’s castle wearing red hats,
raincoats…and nothing else?
The thought just boggles my mind.
Alas, I’m a devout coward so I won’t ask.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith