Arkansas Congressman Tom Cotton is the Republican Senate candidate for the 2014 Election. Unfortunately for him, that means all of his beliefs, both past and present, are fair game. That includes a column he wrote back in 1997 when he was in college. His topic? Women. And, of course, it’s basically a misogynistic rant.

In a piece titled “Promises And Covenants” written for the Harvard Crimson, Cotton wrote that men are “simple creatures” who are “naturally restless and rowdy, maybe even a little incorrigible.” And the women? Well, Cotton believes women are “the problem.”

He sampled a “small and unrepresentative” number of women and asked them what their “greatest fear” is and what their “deepest hopes” were in life, and drew the conclusion that what women want is to be good wives and good mothers.

“I have been asking women two questions,” Cotton wrote. “My first question was “What is your greatest fear in life?” Uniformity characterized the responses… “Watching my husband walk out on me.” “Losing my lover.” “Getting a divorce.”

My second question was very similar: “What is your deepest hope in life?” Again, the responses were uniform. “Finding and holding onto the love of my life.” “Being a good wife and mother.” “Marrying a man who worships me and whom I worship.””

Cotton claims that all the responses were the same across the board and that he didn’t fabricate any of them, but one to wonder just how small a number of women did he consult for his findings. Did he just find two or three women to question? Surely the answers would be more varied had he spoke to a variety of hundreds or even thousands of women both on and off campus. But he didn’t, therefore his findings really aren’t viable and are more representative of Cotton’s sexist fantasy and wishful thinking of what women want.

But wait, there’s more. Cotton also advocates for something called “covenant marriages,” which are marriages that can only be dissolved when there is fault such as adultery or assault, as opposed to no-fault divorces which allow married couples to divorce for just about any reason and which most Americans support. In other words, Cotton supports forcing couples to remain in miserable marriages as long as there’s no abuse or cheating. And he actually believes that “most women support” such marriages even though very few couples are in covenant marriages in Louisiana, and Arkansas.

And that’s still not all. Cotton claims that “divorce is a leading cause of poverty among American women,” and goes on to attack feminists for making divorce easier and says women should fight against divorce.

“Feminists who allegedly speak for women should attack divorce, not its effects. If men have easy access to divorce, many will choose it thoughtlessly. They may not gain true happiness with their new trophy wives, but they certainly will not slide into the material indigence and emotional misery that awaits most divorced women. If restrained, however, men can fulfill women’s deepest hopes. They can learn that personal happiness comes from the desire to devote and sacrifice oneself to one’s beloved.

A few men can see this by themselves, and women are quite lucky to hook them. Ordinary women must not only defend these men against feminism, but also demand that all other men accept the lifelong nature of marriage. If not, one-half of all women who marry see their “greatest fear” come true. If so, they can have their “deepest hopes” fulfilled.”

So according to Cotton, not having a man is the reason why women are thrust into poverty. It’s not because women are paid less then men in the workplace. It’s not because single mothers have a hard time finding proper child care. It’s not because women’s health is far more expensive. Cotton says the ONLY reason why women are in poverty is because they don’t have a man. That’s incredibly sexist and totally ignorant of reality.

Cotton’s views on women and women’s health lines up with the extreme conservative wing of the Republican Party. He is totally anti-choice, which means he would force women to carry pregnancies to term against their will. He also opposes servicewomen serving in combat roles because he thinks women are naturally weak. If Republicans are trying to improve their image among women, they clearly failed by choosing Cotton as their Senate candidate in Arkansas. Any self-respecting woman who votes for Cotton is only voting against their own interests.

When Cotton wrote his column, he was, and still is an unmarried man. So he has absolutely no marital experience, yet he wants everyone to marry and divorce the way he wants them to and actually believes he knows what women want. Well, it’s apparent that there’s at least one thing that women don’t want and his name is Tom Cotton. Even a conservative poll shows that Cotton faces at least a six point gap among women, which means the gap is probably much wider in unbiased and more scientific polls.