Philip Weiss Sets a New Low in Humorless Douchebaggery

Remember Philip Weiss's absurd New York Magazine article from a few weeks back, "The Affairs of Men," where he argued that men are wired to be non-monogamous? Oh, and maybe women are kind of that way too, but really, it's the men who need and deserve a twentysomething waitress on the side? He got eviscerated in feminist blogs for his knuckleheaded use of evolutionary psychology, his presentation of his stray lusts as entitlement, his ignorance of privilege, his contempt for strong women, his implication that women don't harbor equivalent desires. And then there's the fact that he says nothing new - and says it badly.

I have to admit, though, that as I wrote my own takedown of him, I wondered whether some snippets of his piece might have been ironic or tongue-in-cheek. Well, Weiss was on Stephen Colbert last night, and he put all such doubts to rest. The man is deaf to irony. He may have a sense of humor but if so it's as vestigial as the human appendix. Watch:



Just for instance, look how Weiss's mouth doesn't even twitch when Colbert says: "For women, sex is just part of the nesting instinct. There's nothing really sexual about it. They respond to our pheromones and they wish to breed."

Note to Mr. Weiss: Twentysomething waitresses like a sense of humor. So do fortysomething college instructors.

Weiss sort of concedes that women, too, might have unruly desires, but it's always an afterthought. I guess he's right - when it comes to self-important fiftysomething journalists, we're not much tempted.