Anthony Weiner, recently mobbed by reporters during his Staten Island campaign stop, has protested that his scurrilous behavior is "private" and that any fallout has been contained. He assures us he and his wife have worked out the private matter between them, and that is all that counts. We can still trust him to uphold the office of mayor of New York City should he be elected.
Behind his reasoning lie certain basic assumptions and pitfalls.
One assumption is that nearly absolute sexual freedom is not only possible, but is actually desirable. Absolute freedom, including the freedom to indulge in unrestrained "private" sexual activity, may initially sound like a highly desirable liberty. But there are serious problems with any freedom that is unrestrained. One is that another's so-called right to absolute freedom (without any legal or self-imposed restraints) means that others will suffer from his freedom. In Weiner's case, his completely humiliated wife is star witness to the destructive collateral damage done by someone who believes that his addiction is a right, an absolute freedom.
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