Bernie Sanders, the 73-year-old 'Democratic socialist' senator who announced a White House run this week, wrote an essay when he was 30 about a woman who longs to be gang-raped and a man who is sexually excited by abused, subservient women.

The unconventional piece titled 'man – and woman' was published in February 1972 by the Vermont Freeman, one of dozens of 'alternative' newspapers that sprung up and later collapsed during an era of sexual and chemical permissiveness.

'A man goes home and masturbates his typical fantasy,' the Sanders story begins. 'A woman on her knees, a woman tied up, a woman abused.

'A woman enjoys intercourse with her man – as she fantasizes being raped by 3 men simultaneously.'

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BERNIE! This essay written by presidential candidate Bernard Sanders in 1972 during his hippie years begins with a hypothetical description of a woman's gang-rape fantasy

MAN – AND WOMAN: Sanders waved to adoring fans with his wife Jane during his campaign kickoff rally Tuesday in Burlington, Vermont

More than 585 words later, Sanders has the couple losing their sexual appetite for each other because neither can live up to the other's fantasy.

In a speech Tuesday marking the launch of his presidential campaign, Sanders showed a decidedly different side of gender politics, referring to the audience as his 'brothers and sisters' and decrying workplace salary inequality.

'We must establish pay equity for women workers,' he said, drawing shrieks of approval from female fans in attendance.

'It's unconscionable that women earn 78 cents on the dollar compared to men who perform the same work.'

Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs downplayed the essay, telling CNN that it was a 'dumb attempt at dark satire in an alternative publication' that 'in no way reflects his views or record on women.'

'It looks as stupid today as it was then,' he said.

Then, however, Sanders wasn't a run-of-the-mill hippie. He was running in Vermont's gubernatorial election, and had just concluded an unsuccessful run for a U.S. Senate seat.

Liberty Union – and Sanders – advocated for a laundry list of left-friendly policies including drug legalization, an end to compulsory education and the widening of interstate freeway on-ramps so drivers could pick up more hitchhikers.

SHRIEKS: Women in the audience squealed their approval when Sanders said he would reverse America's gender wage gap if he were elected president



WORSHIPFUL: Mother Jones, a liberal magazine, promoted its story about Sen. Sanders' odd history with this GIF image on Twitter

The liberal magazine Mother Jones unearthed the Sanders essay, calling it 'a stream-of-consciousness essay on the nature of male-female sexual dynamics.'

The magazine's Twitter feed advertised the article by promising information about 'how Bernie Sanders became your internet boyfriend.'

Conservatives have begun to complain about a lack of outrage from the political left, comparing Sanders' case to that of Todd Akin, a former Missouri Republican congressman whose 2012 U.S. Senate candidacy crashed and burned after he suggested that 'legitimate' cases of rape rarely result in pregnancies.

'Had Ted Cruz or Rick Santorum wrote something along these lines – even 40 years ago – the media wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks,' the right-wing Media Research Center opined on Thursday.

National Review's Charles Cooke added to the scenario, saying 'it wouldn’t just be Ted Cruz or Rick Santorum who would be asked about the essay: it would be every Republican in the race. In fact, it would be every Republican not in the race, too.'

'Immediately, Planned Parenthood would start a fundraising drive,' wrote Cooke. 'And eventually, when the drumbeat became too much to handle, the essay’s author would resign or withdraw or commit some form of political seppuku.'