"I honor every woman who has the strength to step out of the beaten path when she feels that her walk lies in another, strength enough to stand up and be laughed at, if necessary . . . But in a few years it will not be thought strange that women should be preachers, sculptors, and everyone who comes after us will have to bear fewer and fewer blows.' -- Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, sculptor (1830-1908)

And then along comes Newt Gingrich, more than 100 years later, delivering a fresh set of blows to gender equality. The Speaker of the House told a college history class last week "If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections and they don't have upper body strength," while men "are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes."

Gingrich's digression back to pre-liberation Dark Ages is an abuse of his position both as an educator and as the United States' third-in-command leader. He must learn to hold his tongue on such matters, as his political visibility has the potential to influence young women and men. It especially gives women the impression that, especially in military careers, their choices are still limited.

The real frustration stemming out of Gingrich's spiel is not that he is suggesting there are differences between the sexes. There are, and they make our race far more interesting.

Instead, the raw sewage Gingrich is pumping prevents any sort of positive portrayal of those differences.

Gingrich has insulted both men and women with his Freudian generalizations of the shortcomings of each.

Gingrich said that when it comes to technology, women are "in some ways better" than men, skilled at sitting tight in front of computer controls. But even that idea lacks inspiration because few women hold the positions in which he says they would succeed.

Gingrich must learn to perfect a politican's tact, perhaps by following the rule of never saying anything that would offend his mother. But then again . . .