Carrol quotes Mary Schweitzer's screed:
You know my doctor, a petite little thing, came very close to punching (Elaine Showalter) in the nose when Showalter (who looks like Linda Tripp)...
The fact that Schweitzer is insulting Showalter on the basis of her looks says something about the depth and integrity of her feminism. Of course, telling women that they are insufficiently attractive/homely/too loud/fat is a classic method of control. It happens to ever woman who is publicly known and does not "behave." Monica, Anita Hill, Janet Reno, Linda Tripp, MArcia Clark have all been castigated this way. Of course, Schweitzer publically insults Showalter on the basis of her looks knowing that Showalter, as an American woman, has been continually emotionally battered by advertising, those awful magazines, images of fakely beautiful women reminding her that she does not measure up.
I must say, I've read a few things of Schweitzers, and she always comes off looking badly. But this particular bit makes me think she is a real piece of shit. I expect in her next stuff she'll say something explicit about Showalter's weight. What an asshole.
I read Schweitzer's post and kept thinking about the now-discredited repressed memory syndrome and multiple personality disorder. I look forward to seeing what is said about CFS in a few years.
frances