Tony Abbott is perfectly entitled to his view as an individual - and as the father of three teenage girls - as to whether women should have sex before they are married.
But as the alternative prime minister, the danger for Abbott is that any airing of his private views will sound like a generalised public call for the women of Australia to keep themselves nice.
This is exactly what has happened – not just with the predictable attacks from sworn enemies such as Julia Gillard, but across blog sites and the twittersphere from politically ambivalent women have interpreted Abbott’s statement as an unwelcome free lecture.
Abbott has moved today to clarify the remarks he made to The Australian Women’s Weekly, saying that he was simply giving an honest answer under questioning as to his private opinion as the father of three daughters.
Perhaps Abbott needs to find some of the discipline of his political hero John Howard, a fellow social conservative who was forever being asked to speak his mind on moral issues - but who knew that, as a powerful politician, you would only offer a private opinion if you were prepared for it to become a public one.
Abbott said this morning that his virginity remarks have got him into trouble; if so, I doubt that it’s got him into that much trouble.
It’s probably just given the people who already can’t stand him a reason to dislike him even more.
There might be a few politically disengaged people, mainly women but some men, who will find his remarks quaint and perhaps be uneasy that a man with such old-fashioned views is potentially a few votes away from running the country.
But many Australians will agree with him, and not just those of a certain generation.
Abbott’s habitual honesty, his sometimes reckless insistence on saying exactly what is on his mind, is an endearing quality in this age of political spin and empty language.
In typical style, he not only offered these remarks but also outed himself as a hypocrite in the process, saying he had been a less than exemplary role model in the pre-marital sex stakes.
Abbott has also been accused of hypocrisy in canvassing the issue of female virginity at some length, but sounding much more laidback on the question of unmarried men being sexually active.
If it’s hypocrisy, it’s hypocrisy which many men share. Whether it’s the job of an aspiring prime minister to be canvassing such things is another question altogether.
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