I didn’t know the Why Men Rule book. I’ll be sure to look it up — contrary to appearance, I do respect the quality of your points here, even though I may disagree with some of them. As for changing mores — I acknowledge that standards change. But I believe that there are some absolutes as well. Racism for example (defined as the belief that one race is inferior to another) is racism. And there are many segments on the history timeline in which racism is not a dominant mode of thought. So the notion of tradition or changing standards doesn’t hold as a defense in all cases. There have been clear and persuasive opponents of the abuses of patriarchy in western culture since Euripides.

Actually, according to my argument / premises, the one he-said she-said case where Franken denied culpability (the congressional aide) would most likely be the one case where he was not guilty. But he may have simply changed tactics after the onslaught of other accusations.

I liked Franken a whole lot. He was one of my few political heroic figures. I read his books. His questioning of Betsy deVos during her nomination process was a pivotal moment. If Franken had had no baggage and if he had been in office during the Kavanaugh hearings, there’s no telling how important he could have been. But there is no politician (any gender, any ideology) whose transgressions should be dismissed, no matter how much we like them.

Lengthy aside: I think I’m a bit older than you. I was a George McGovern supporter in 1972 because of his opposition to the Vietnam War. But after that, McGovern returned to the Senate, where he held a powerful post on the Agricultural Committee. When a proposed federal dietary guideline (the ancestor of the food pyramid, if I remember correctly) proposed eating less meat, McGovern quashed the report because of his allegiance to cattle ranchers in his home state of South Dakota. His action may have shortened the life of countless Americans (based on modern dietary principles that validated the proposed standard of that time, e.g. the Mediterranean diet). We have very few untarnished figures in our national history. But that doesn’t mean that we should lower the tennis net. It’s all the more reason for keeping standards high.