Impolitic, by Molly Ivins.
I Am the Cosmos
Austin, Texas --- ``So write about Camille Paglia,'' suggested the
editor. Like any normal person, I replied, ``And who the hell might
she be?''
Big cheese in New York intellectual circles. The latest rage. Hot
stuff. Controversial.
But I'm not good on New York intellectual controversies, I explained.
Could never bring myself to give a rat's ass about Jerzy Kosinski.
Never read Andy Warhol's diaries. Can never remember the name of the
editor of this _New Whatsit_, the neo-con critical rag. I'm a no-hoper
on this stuff, practically a professional provincial.
Read Paglia, says he, you'll have an opinion. So I did; and I do.
Christ! Get this woman a Valium!
Hand her a gin. Try meditation. Camille, honey, calm down!
The noise is about her _oeuvre_, as we always say in Lubbock: _Sexual
Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson_. In
very brief, for those of you who have been playing hooky from the _New
York Review of Books_, Ms. Paglia's contention is that ``the history
of western civilization has been a constant struggle between ... two
impulses, an unending tennis match between cold, Apollonian
categorization and Dionysian lust and chaos.'' Jeez, me too. I always
thought the world was divided into only two kinds of people --- those
who think the world is divided into only two kinds of people, and
those who don't.
<snip>
One of her latest efforts at playing enfant terrible in intellectual
circles was a peppy essay for _Newsday_, claiming that either there is
no such thing as date rape or, if there is, it's women's fault because
we dress so provocatively. Thanks, Camille, I've got some Texas
fraternity boys I want you to meet.
There is one area in which I think Paglia and I would agree that
politically correct feminism has produced a noticeable inequity.
Nowadays, when a woman behaves in a hysterical and disagreeable
fashion, we say, ``Poor dear, it's probably PMS.'' Whereas, if a man
behaves in a hysterical and disagreeable fashion, we say, ``What an
asshole.'' Let me leap to correct this unfairness by saying of Paglia,
Sheesh, what an asshole.
http://bush.cs.tamu.edu/~erich/misc/ivins_on_paglia