When I need to work up my nerve to write a tough column, I try to think of myself as Emma Peel in a black leather catsuit, giving a kung fu kick to any diabolical mastermind who merits it.

I did not write those words, and I hope you didn't think for one moment that I had. They were the introduction to a column written by Maureen Dowd of The New York Times last Monday in which she said how hard life was as the only female op-ed columnist on her paper. Before I get to the issue of female columnists, their scarcity, the harshness of their life and whether we should give a damn one way or another, I would like to get back to that intro.