“Love
is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all
philosophers. But, in fact, a man’s sexual choice is the result and the sum of
his fundamental convictions. Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I
will tell you his entire philosophy on life. Show me the woman he sleeps with
and I will tell you his valuation of himself. No matter what corruption he’s
taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of
all acts, an act which he cannot perform for any motive but his own enjoyment–just
try to think of performing it in a spirit of selfless charity!–an act which is
not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exaltation, only in confidence of
being desired and being worthy of desire. It is an act that forces him to stand
naked in spirit, as well as in body, and to accept his real ego as his standard
of value. He will always be attracted to the woman who reflects his deepest
vision of himself, the woman whose surrender permits him to experience–or to
fake–a sense of self-esteem. The man who is proudly certain of his own value,
will want the highest type of woman he can find, the woman he admires, the
strongest, the hardest to conquer — because only the possession of a heroine
will give him the sense of an achievement, not the possession of a brainless
slut.“
~ Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
Owen stopped eating long enough to raise his eyebrows. "Safeword? I know what it is," he muttered, forestalling the explanation Malcolm was about to spew. "I just mean, I'm the one who's going to need it?"
