Sanders calls ’70s sex essay bad ‘50 Shades’

Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders commented on an essay he wrote in 1972 for an alternative newspaper, saying it was a “poorly written” piece of fiction and comparing it to the novel “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

The essay, entitled “Man-and-Woman,” which appeared in a February 1972 edition of a typewritten weekly alternative newspaper called the Vermont Freedman, was unearthed by Mother Jones magazine in an article published last week.

“This is a piece of fiction that I wrote in 1972, I think,” Sanders told the television program Meet the Press. “That was 43 years ago. It was very poorly written and if you read it, what it was dealing with was gender stereotypes, why some men like to oppress women, why other women like to be submissive, you know, something like Fifty Shades of Grey.”

The essay’s opening paragraph purports to describe the sexual fantasies of a man and woman, involving rape and submission. It was evidently intended to be eye-catching, but the essay does not continue in that vein. Instead, it discusses gender stereotypes that can lead to misunderstandings and ruined relationships between men and women.

The Vermont senator’s campaign staff downplayed the essay last week.

“When Bernie got into this race, he understood that there would be efforts to distract voters and the press from the real issues confronting the nation today,” campaign spokesman Michael Briggs told the press, The Hill reported last week.

He added that Sanders’s essay was a “dumb attempt at dark satire in an alternative publication” and “in no way reflects his views or record on women.”