But you can bet that some professional feminists will take the side of the accusing woman who sees herself as victimized and now seeks fleeting fame and a considerable fortune as a destroyer of a public man. For extremists who gave feminism a bad name, the presumption of male guilt is automatic: the woman, right or wronged.

Militant feminism, whose shock troops were necessary in their day, is now undermining the cause of equal rights. "Many women have come to see the feminist movement as anti-male, anti-child, anti-family, anti-feminine," writes the novelist Sally Quinn, ". . . often with overtones of lesbianism and man-hating."

She cites the declaration by Patricia Ireland, president of NOW, of a "love relationship with a woman" while married to a man. "We are not just talking about open relationships or honesty or even lesbianism, for that matter. What Ms. Ireland is talking about is, to my mind, adultery . . . What kind of standards is she espousing? . . . Can you imagine George Bush telling the world that he was having a homosexual relationship with another man and it was just swell with Barbara?"

The equality of rights movement cannot afford such leadership. Three years ago, the redoubtable Betty Friedan -- who pioneered the feminist parade a generation ago -- broke ranks with the female chauvinists with a gutsy pro-motherhood book, "The Second Stage." That stage is now; angry misogyny has fallen behind the power curve. A new womanism is emerging that knows the difference between equality and sameness, rejects the poses of victimization and unisexism, and -- in the workplace, bedroom and voting booth -- wants to strike a natural balance in today's man-woman relationship.

Politics is the showcase for that power partnership. A couple of weeks ago, Washington Post reporters David Broder and Bob Woodward surprised readers by discovering a steely and well-trained intellect "behind" our Vice President. Marilyn Quayle, a lawyer whose primary client is now her husband, saw through James Baker's oleaginous duplicities in the 1988 campaign. She works effectively through her man; the public knows it is getting a "two-fer," and will judge the pair as one entry.