[don't have the exact cite for the first - came from my Yale '75 class listserv]
Re. Camille Paglia from The Observer...
<snip>
Camille Paglia, who traded blows with Ms. Wolf in the early 1990's over their radically different views on female sexual power, said she was no longer at war with Ms. Wolf, but was "shocked" to learn of Ms. Wolf's accusations against Mr. Bloom, who is a long-time mentor of Ms. Paglia's.
<snip>
"At the beginning of the 90's, people said, 'Oh, Naomi Wolf, this great thinker,'" said Ms. Paglia. "But what she's managed to do in 10 years is marginalize herself as a chronicler of teenage angst. She doesn't want to leave that magic island when she was the ripening teenager.
How many times do we have to relive Naomi Wolf's growing up? How many books, how many articles, Naomi, are you going to impose on us so we have to be dragged back to your teenage-heartbreak years? This is regressive! It's childish! Move on! Move on! Get on to menopause next!"
==============================
Oh. My. Gawd.
That is the funniest thing I've read all day not counting the hilarious AP article about Laura Bush's discomfiture over Gay marriage.
Of course, I don't know if Wolf's accusations are true or not.
And, I must admit to a habit of mindlessly tossing whatever facts are presented in he said /she said cases out the window in favor of instantly believing the woman and scowling a righteous scowl towards the man. A curious impulse really; sort of a combination of old-fangled deference to women (what was it called, chivalry?) and new-fangled critiques of 'patriarchy'.
Whatever problems folks may have with Paglia's oeuvre (listen I know, sooo many problems), the one thing of value I took away from her stuff and the statements she made during the extended 90's moment of prominence was the idea that, even taking into account the very real crimes of sexism and sexual assualt, all situations are not alike and, just because a woman accuses a guy of something doesn't automatically make it so.
So, by habit of mind, I'm inclined to say Wolf good! Bloom bad! Bloom baaaad (Frankenstein no like Bloom!).
But as before, during the salad days, Paglia crashes that cozy party with a 'wait a minute you silly, besotted bastard, what about this!' shot fired across the bow.
...
Now, this being LBO-talk and all, I probably should take this opportunity to make at least a few clear statments about how I in no way advocate treating victims of alleged assault and / or harrassment as liars, lest someone enthusiastically shout j'accuse! in a too-eager effort to unmask me as Mephistopheles' cheerleader.
DRM