From: mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin)
Subject: Re: Paglia (was: Cross-Writing)
Originator: mnemonic@eff.org
Keywords: Paglia (again!), rape
Organization: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 03:37:29 GMT

In article <1993Jan11.020401.27962@cheshire.oxy.edu> rooney@cheshire.oxy.edu (Michael Sean Rooney) writes:
>In article <1993Jan11.004401.12229@eff.org> mnemonic@eff.org (Mike Godwin) writes:
>>
>>Please cite the text in which Paglia suggests "knuckling under" to any
>>"purported biological determinism." She certainly does not suggest any
>>such thing in SEX, ART, AND AMERICAN CULTURE.
>
>	Okay.  How about the following heap of assertions from SA&AC:
<text deleted>
>
>	I think these selections, even considering their possible
>casualness, indicate a pretty strong belief in biological determinism,
>particularly in male sexuality.

No one disputed that Paglia believes in something like what you call
"biolgical determinism." (She believes that biological tendencies can be
transcended, but that this transcendence takes a lot of effort and can
never be wholly successful.)

But not one line of what you quoted suggested "knuckling under" to
anything.

>	Admittedly, "knuckling under" is not a term Paglia would be happy
>with.  But it's the "common sense" reading of her position.  

It's an uncommon commonsense reading, then. The last thing Paglia suggests
is surrender (a common synonym for "knuckling under"). What she suggests
is just the opposite: she writes:

"Women must reorient themselves toward the elemental powers of sex, which
can strengthen or destroy.
	"The only solution to date rape is female self-awareness and
self-control. A woman's number one line of defense is herself. When a real
rape occurs, she should report it to the police."

It takes a very uncommon reading of her language here to read it as
suggesting "knuckling under" to anything.

>	Men, for Paglia, can't help but intertwine aggression and sex --
>or perhaps even can't help but feel the "fun element in rape".  Men can,
>however, be carefully housebroken away from their innate disposition for
>"anarchy and brutishness" (i.e., jumping after a deliriously fun gang rape),
>presumably by the fierce Italian justice (i.e., lynching) she espouses
>elsewhere. 

Most people wouldn't equate "fierce Italian justice" with "knuckling
under."

>	Everything I've read by Paglia, especially since her rise to 
>fame, paints a picture of a crude purveyor of stereotypes, an academically
>sloppy thinker, and an exceptional self-promoter.

I don't see too many stereotypes in SEXUAL PERSONAE. I wouldn't call her a
rigorous thinker, but, then, many useful thinkers are loose ones. As for 
her gift for self-promotion, I'd think this was a pretty good credential
for someone who critiques popular society and culture--it means she has a
handle on what she's talking about.

>"Sure, I'll buy Paglia's line that men are sexually violent toward women
> because they fear being dominated by women.  I fear being dominated by
> men.  So if a man is patronizing me, can I shoot him?  ("He led me on,
> officer.  What else could a red-blooded woman do?")"
>                                                      -- Helen Cordes

This is a silly quote. Paglia's not saying that men's fears,
as manifested in their sexual violence, *justify* rape. So, for Cordes
to ask whether a mirror-image insecurity would justify anti-male
violence is to show an almost puerile misreading of Paglia's
essay. One wonders if it's intentional.


--Mike



-- 
Mike Godwin,    |"I'm waiting for the one-man revolution
mnemonic@eff.org| The only one that's coming."
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