THE world's most notorious seducer finally has someone taking up cudgels on his behalf. British author, Judith Summers, in her controversial book, Casanova's Women: The Great Seducer And The Women He Loved, says that the legendary flirt was a victim of Women, rather than being their exploiter! She writes, while there were many victims among the 200 plus women he seduced, many others preyed on his generosity, his kindness and his vulnerability."

More than two centuries after Casanova's death, his name is still a synonym for every playboy philanderer. Says starlet Sanobar Kabir, "Casanova is the kind of man women love to hate and love at the same time.

We know Casanova to be charming, a flirt and commitment-phobic; like the modern-day casanovas around us. I am not sorry for Casanova if he was a victim. After all, it's a man's world, so we should be allowed a few manipulative strategies on them!"

While opinions differ about Casanova, Summers says that the swashbuckler, in fact, was not a libidinous brute. "He was a proto-feminist whose belief was that women were the equal of their men folk. He was attracted to strong-minded women who presented him with an intellectual as well as a romantic challenge; Casanova did not pursue sex for his own sake. If he had nothing to say to a woman, he rarely wanted to sleep with her. Were he alive today, in fact, he would be a therapist's dream patient. When he fell in love, the greatest love of his life preyed on his generosity, his vulnerability and his desire to please," she says.

How easy is it for people to accept this theory about Casanova? It's an interesting contradiction from what we already know about Casanova, "But should we buy these excuses? When you're caught with your pants down repeatedly, can you be a victim? Even if we show sympathy for Casanova, that won't change the fact that he was a philanderer. I don't think a man can be a victim for so long."

Interestingly, the author of the book also believes that "when Casanova was abandoned by women he adored, he'd find solace in sex". She says, "When he fell in love, his girlfriend, Charpillon. tormented and exploited him. In public, Charpillon behaved as if she and Casanova were already lovers. In private, she turned her head away if he so much as tired to kiss her. On the two occasions she agreed to spend the night with him, she curled up into a tight ball, making it impossible for Casanova to make love to her, and provoking him to violence, which stopped just short of rape. This cat-and-mouse behaviour left the adventurer mystified and determined to win her heart."

Yet, the re-interpretation of Casanova's character isn't easily acceptable. Casanova will always be the man who was chasing women. No matter what the rationale, he'll never be the victim.