We suggest that Book Five of the "Republic", where Plato discusses the status of women in the guardian class, is a superb source of Platonic insight. For it is precisely the discussion of women that is most vulnerable to co-optation by the modern vernacular of interest, a vernacular to which the "Republic" is vehemently opposed. If students come to appreciate an alternative perspective regarding this most sensitive of modern issues, the full impact of the Socratic approach is available to them.