» On women and men

… the thoughts of Camille Paglia

Camille Paglia seems to be the feminist who most annoys other feminists. Yet I cannot see what all the fuss is about.

I’m absolutely a feminist. The reason other feminists don’t like me is that I criticize the movement, explaining that it needs a correction. Feminism has betrayed women, alienated men and women, replaced dialogue with political correctness.

interview, Playboy (1995)

It is rare when a woman is driven by obsession. Similarly, it is rare when a woman is a genius. That’s why I said one of my most notorious sentences, that there is no woman Mozart because there is no woman Jack the Ripper. Men are more prone to obsession because they are fleeing domination by women. They flee to a chess game or to a computer or to fixing a car, or whatever, to attempt to complete their identities, because they always feel incomplete.

interview, Playboy (1995)

It is not male hatred of women but male fear of women that is the great universal.

No law in the arena: A pagan theory of sexuality, in Vamps and tramps (1994)
[cf Germaine Greer, “Women have very little idea of how much men hate them” (The female eunuch). Of course, these positions are not in conflict: the fear creates the hate.]

Patriarchy, routinely blamed for everything, produced the birth control pill, which did more to free contemporary women than feminism itself.

No law in the arena

I reaffirm and celebrate woman’s ancient mystery and glamour. I see the mother as an overwhelming force who condemns men to lifelong sexual anxiety, from which they escape through rationalism and physical achievement.

cited here.

Men are run ragged by female sexuality all their lives. From the beginning of his life to the end, no man ever fully commands any woman. It’s an illusion. Men are pussy-whipped. And they know it.

quoted in Sexuality and gender (Williams and Stein, 2002)

The feminist analysis of prostitution says that men are using money as power over women. I’d say, yes, that’s all that men have. The money is a confession of weakness. They have to buy women’s attention. It’s not a sign of power; it’s a sign of weakness.

quoted in Sexuality and gender

If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts.

Sexual personae: art and decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990)

When social controls weaken, man’s innate cruelty bursts forth… Each generation drives its plow over the bones of the dead.

Sexual personae

Every man harbors an inner female territory ruled by his mother, from whom he can never entirely break free.

Sexual personae

Men know they are sexual exiles. They wander the earth seeking satisfaction, craving and despising, never content. There is nothing in that anguished motion for women to envy.

Sexual personae

The idea that emotion can be separated from sex is a Christian illusion, one of the most ingenious but finally unworkable strategies in Christianity’s ancient campaign against pagan nature.

Sexual personae

Male mastery in marriage is a social illusion, nurtured by women exhorting their creations to play and walk. At the emotional heart of every marriage is a pietà of mother and son.

Sexual personae

Charisma is the radiance produced by the interaction of male and female elements in a gifted personality. The charismatic woman has a masculine force and severity. The charismatic man has an entrancing female beauty. Both are hot and cold, glowing with presexual self-love.

Sexual personae

On women and men—2

… the thoughts of Camille Paglia

I’m absolutely a feminist. The reason other feminists don’t like me is that I criticize the movement, explaining that it needs a correction. Feminism has betrayed women, alienated men and women, replaced dialogue with political correctness.

It is not male hatred of women but male fear of women that is the great universal.

Patriarchy, routinely blamed for everything, produced the birth control pill, which did more to free contemporary women than feminism itself.

I reaffirm and celebrate woman’s ancient mystery and glamour. I see the mother as an overwhelming force who condemns men to lifelong sexual anxiety, from which they escape through rationalism and physical achievement.

Men are run ragged by female sexuality all their lives. From the beginning of his life to the end, no man ever fully commands any woman. It’s an illusion. Men are pussy-whipped. And they know it.

The feminist analysis of prostitution says that men are using money as power over women. I’d say, yes, that’s all that men have. The money is a confession of weakness. They have to buy women’s attention. It’s not a sign of power; it’s a sign of weakness.

If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts.

When social controls weaken, man’s innate cruelty bursts forth… Each generation drives its plow over the bones of the dead.

Every man harbors an inner female territory ruled by his mother, from whom he can never entirely break free.

Men know they are sexual exiles. They wander the earth seeking satisfaction, craving and despising, never content. There is nothing in that anguished motion for women to envy.

The idea that emotion can be separated from sex is a Christian illusion, one of the most ingenious but finally unworkable strategies in Christianity’s ancient campaign against pagan nature.

Male mastery in marriage is a social illusion, nurtured by women exhorting their creations to play and walk. At the emotional heart of every marriage is a pietà of mother and son.

Charisma is the radiance produced by the interaction of male and female elements in a gifted personality. The charismatic woman has a masculine force and severity. The charismatic man has an entrancing female beauty. Both are hot and cold, glowing with presexual self-love.

Further reading