You are not the first to pick up on the somewhat elusive and seeminly contradictory philosophical underpinnings of the Mrs. Robinson Society (MRS). As a founding member of the Society, I acknowledge its fugitive nature, and welcome the controversy. For several months, in fact, Mrs. Robinsons have been pitted against Cougars in what’s turning out to be an all-out virtual cat fight. Personally, I’d like to see that played out in real life, wouldn't you? Can you imagine Mrs. Robinson vs. The Cougar in some Lucha Libre-style smackdown? All in good fun, of course. Who doesn’t love a woman in a Mexican wrestling mask?

MRS is an open platform (men, women, homo, hetero, young, old). It is also home to many reformed practitioners of Cougarism, who are now as eager as we are to abandon the unfortunate misnomer and male-centric term Cougar. Mrs. Robinson is no “starving aggressor” and, by extension, worthwhile Benjamins are not “helpless prey.” Additionally, MRS is not intended as a solution for a bored or loveless life. On the contrary, Mrs. Robinson is satisfied on all fronts—at home with her husband, and in her expanded social playground, which includes younger men. I know it’s shocking to imagine married women living fulfilling lives independent of their partners, and gracious me, even engaging with young single men? Lordy child, say it isn’t so! But it is true.

In appropriating Mrs. Robinson’s mythology, we’ve rewritten her history. “Being Mrs. Robinson” is an ideal state of mind, a model code of behavior, an aspirational measure. To understand it properly, the cosmology we’ve invented around her character should be viewed as an organizing principle for a serious sociopolitical agenda, one that is mainly concerned with female empowerment but also a broad and urgent call for conscious living.

Don’t get caught up in whether or not we espouse extra-marital affairs—that’s missing the point. Mrs. Robinson, as we’ve reinvented her, resides outside black-and-white categories of older women as either caretakers or sexual predators. Consider Mrs. R., the wise confidante, trusted advisor, and career coach. Or the taste-making wizard to help you redecorate your apartment or select a sharp new wardrobe. This is the version of a May-September relationship that holds our imagination. We like to think of it as a mentor-protégée arrangement, a form of community outreach, if you will.

So you can understand why the thought of our Society as a hunting ground for the so-called "Cougar Killer" behind the Marina Cougar blog is quite hilarious to us. Before I close, please allow me one departing note to your fine readers. I can only hope that perhaps even one young fellow will read this and come over to the other side. What follows is an open letter from Mrs. Robinson:

Dear Prospective Benjamin:
If you are a young man of precocious intelligence and humor, bored with deflowering kittenish ingénues and craving a different sort of awakening, then you may be equipped to explore the complex mind and multiple dimensions of Mrs. Robinson. In fact, you are crucial to the society’s mission, and chances are one of our MRS Field Agents may have noticed you already. If you are reading this blog, we trust you are not a lost cause. Forget the empty bravado of being a Cougar Killer and discover the rewards of becoming Benjamin instead.

Questions? http://www.mrsrobinsonsf.com/respond.htm

Sincerely,
Mrs. Robinson