"If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts."
Despite this widely quoted line from one of her ever-controversial statements, I would certainly dub Camille Paglia a public intellectual, though I am even more certain that she cares very little about my opinions or anyone else's for that matter. The author and professor has been called a lot of things, "the academic Joan Rivers" among them, but she has never been called a coward when it comes to speaking her mind.
Though her viewpoints are unorthodox, her works have reached a widespread audience. Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson", her 700-page scholarly tome became a bestseller. Two years later, in 1992, she published Sex, Art, and American Culture, a collection of her many articles, interviews, and lectures, which was also well-received. Vamps & Tramps: New Essays received criticism for its "hodgepodge" content, but encompassed content Paglia had written or said in interviews since her first publication. More recently, she also authored Glittering Images: A Journey Through Art from Egypt to Star Wars.
She has written critical explications, as well: The Birds, which is titled after the Hitchcock film it examines and Break, Blow, Burn, an anthology of forty-three poems, which she gathered and supplemented with her trademark blistering analysis.
Her educational background is as extensive as her publications. She completed her undergraduate degree at SUNY Binghamton, Harpur College, where she was valedictorian. She then went on to Yale for graduate studies where she completed her dissertation and was awarded her Ph.D. She went on to teach at Bennington College and later, University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Though her beliefs are often in sharp contrast to what the feminist majority preach and practice, Paglia identifies her feminist heroes as pilot Amelia Earhart, actress Katherine Hepburn, and French theorist, Simone de Beauvoir, whose book dealing with the treatment of women throughout history serves as the namesake for this very blog.
Calling Camille Paglia a public intellectual is perhaps the only label that will stick, considering she is a difficult woman to classify. She is a feminist who relentlessly calls out the feminist establishment, a lesbian who celebrates manhood, and a scholar who defends pop culture (especially Madonna).
The role of a public intellectual is to generate awareness and conversation and Paglia does exactly that. As Stephen Mack suggests in The "Decline" of the Public Intellectual;
If public intellectuals have any role to play in a democracy—and they do—it’s simply to keep the pot boiling. The measure of public intellectual work is not whether the people are listening, but whether they’re hearing things worth talking about.A subject I feel is certainly worth discussing is health education in schools and though our opinions may differ greatly, Paglia fulfills the role of a public intellectual by starting this conversation. She published an Op-Ed in Time advocating for sex education programs to acknowledge gender differences in their curriculum, in lieu of the "crazy quilt of haphazard programs" currently in place in the United States. Paglia writes:
Currently, 22 states and the District of Columbia mandate sex education but leave instructional decisions to school districts. Sex-ed teachers range from health educators to volunteers and teenage "peer educators" with minimal training.
Her suggestion later in the same piece that sexually transmitted diseases be discussed in middle-school, is valid, although I disagree with her claim that condom distribution should not take place in public schools. I feel qualified to make these statements because I am one of the "peer educators" she diminishes, through an organization called Women and Youth Supporting Each Other.
Mack continues in his analysis of the role of public intellectuals:
Elshtain’s point is that the public intellectual function is criticism... It is also, however, the obligation of every citizen in a democracy. Trained to it or not, all participants in self-government are duty-bound to prod, poke, and pester the powerful institutions that would shape their lives.Anyone who has read any of Paglia's work will agree wholeheartedly that she takes the role of critic as a public intellectual very seriously. Her polarizing views may stop you dead in your tracks, but they stop you. In this democracy we are so fortunate to live in, we, the people, have the ability to question and criticize what we are told, even from those we look up to and give dub "intellectuals". By speaking out in such a blunt fashion, Paglia has reached the masses, garnered a lot of hate, and done exactly what a public intellectual ought to- get everyone to participate. She describes her success, as opposed to some of her colleagues, very simply:
I have flourished because I have ideas about culture but I'm not a snob... I believe in reacting along with the mass of people. I believe in the human norm. I am a deviant, I'm on the extreme of human life, but I believe in the norm.
Her favorable view of decadence and pornography has certainly set her apart from the majority who identify as academics or feminists, as has her support of the decriminalization of prostitution and legalization of all drugs. She frequently writes of her detestation for censorship of any kind, especially in the arts.
Paglia's disdain for political correctness has not waned. In a time when "rape culture" is the buzzword on nearly every college campus and the vast majority of the victims are women, Paglia, ever the dissenting opinion, insists that the American education system is, in fact, a toxic environment for males. From the oppressive primary schools that are cutting recess to the way gender is taught in universities, she believes it is "all about the neutralization of maleness." She even goes so far as to suggest in a piece in Time:
Despite hysterical propaganda about our "rape culture", the majority of campus incidents being carelessly described as sexual assault are not felonious rape (involving force or drugs), but oafing hookup melodramas, arising from mixed signals and imprudence on both sides.
Perhaps the most important criticism Paglia has for the women's movement is that it must tackle more serious matters, like rape in India, if it wants to be taken seriously. While I disagree with her downplay of the problem of date-rape on campuses, an issue I intend to address more thoroughly in future posts, she is correct in suggesting that the feminist movement needs to be more encompassing and global in order to make a greater impact.
The vision Paglia advocates for is "equal-opportunity feminism", which demands fair opportunities without demanding special quotas or protections for women. She criticizes the mainstream feminist movement for excluding women who chose to forgo careers to say at home with children, foolishly neglecting a population that may have joined them under a broader umbrella.
Camille Paglia is well-educated and bold-spoken. She is an intellectual in that she has the degrees and expertise to add to her credibility and very clearly a public intellectual, based on the success of her publications and prevalence in the public eye. Her statements, though often offensive to one group or another (myself included, several times throughout my research), are not brash, unsubstantiated claims.
Camille Paglia is mad about a lot of things in this world and she is not afraid to voice it. And her loud voice gets the crowds to listen, if only so they can formulate a rebuttal. Paglia is a public intellectual because her anger is translated by the masses to a personal anger about similar hot-button issues.
"If you are not angry, you are not paying attention." And if you are not angry, you must not have read Paglia lately.
