CAMILLE PAGLIA is the University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. A regular contributor to Salon.com, she is the author of Glittering Images; Break, Blow, Burn; Vamps & Tramps; Sex, Art, and American Culture; and Sexual Personae.
"'One test of un homme sérieux, ' Christopher Hitchens wrote, 'is
that it is possible to learn from him even when one radically
disagrees with him.' By this measure, Camille Paglia is une femme
sérieuse indeed. . . . If you've forgotten Sexual Personae, or have
never read it, Paglia helpfully reprints a few chunks of it in her
new essay collection, Free Women, Free Men: Sex, Gender, Feminism.
These chunks are fiercely erudite, freewheeling and sex-drenched. .
. . Her exegeses are prickly and acute, the Helen
Vendler-meets-Patti Smith grad seminar you wanted but never quite
got. . . . Her prose can be electric. . . . [Paglia is] a fearless
public intellectual and more necessary than ever."
--Dwight Garner, The New York Times "Paglia is a brilliant thinker
on culture and human nature. . . . [She] never fails to provide
straightforward and thoughtful dialogue about gender. . . . [Her]
new book is inspirational in its tone and its message that freedom
belongs to both sexes."
--Helen Smith, The New Criterion "Topics run the gamut, including
an essay praising The Real Housewives; her famous 1990 piece on
Madonna in which she deemed her 'the future of feminism;' and an
astute essay analyzing the cultural, aesthetic, and historical
implications of stilettos. An introductory essay offers a
compelling glimpse into Paglia's childhood in the 1950s that led
her toward feminism and strong female role models like Amelia
Earhart and Katharine Hepburn. . . . Her work is always thought
provoking and laid out with an academic's insight. She is most on
point when she analyzes pop culture, design, and art--managing to
put an intellectual spin on lowbrow entertainment and turn more
obtuse academic topics into something relatable and
enthralling."
--Adrienne Urbanski, BUST "Polemical, thought-provoking, enraging,
funny, and brave. And today [Paglia's essays] sound prescient. . .
. Before President Donald Trump thrust the nation into debates
about liberals forgetting white working class Americans in the
Midwest and South, the failures of contemporary feminism, and free
speech on college campus . . . Paglia was discussing all these
topics. Whether you agree or disagree with Paglia (and many people
have made strong arguments in disagreement), she has always
understood the country while other experts did not."
--Mitchell Sunderland, VICE "What this amounts to is a non-stop
intellectual barrage. No one with the slightest interest in its
issues can afford to overlook Paglia's treatment of them here,
which compels the consideration of her shrillest critic and ardent
devotee alike. The wider significance of Free Men, Free Women is
the promise, implicit in its approach, to help pave a path forward
for those now reeling from the unintended consequences of the
continuing culture wars."
-- Nick Goldberg, American Conservative "[Paglia] is one of the
most fascinating (and individualistic) writers on feminism and
gender extant."
--Jeff Simon, Buffalo News "Feminist and culture critic Paglia is
at her feisty, full-throated best in this series of short
manifestos that spans her career from her breakthrough 1990 study,
Sexual Personae, to the present. Paglia's remedy for the ills
besetting contemporary women is an infusion of her personal brand
of 'Amazonian feminism, ' which combines staunch libertarian
principles with 1960s rebellion. She refuses to bow to ideology
('The premier principles of this book are free thought and free
speech--open, mobile, and unconstrained by either liberal or
conservative ideology') and is uncompromising in her convictions.
Paglia's sharp tongue and clear vision veer toward forceful
assertions and snappy insults as often as practical perspective and
common-sense solutions. . . . Her stances on date rape, abortion,
free speech, sex, art, and the importance of historical perspective
are admirably consistent, as is her contempt for university
coddling, poststructuralism, women's studies programs, cults of
victimhood, and anything mainstream. . . . One does not have to
agree with her theories about masculinity, femininity, and sex to
enjoy Paglia's bracing intellect and scrappy attitude."
--Publishers Weekly "Impressive. . . . [Paglia] uses new insight to
dissect issues relating to feminism. . . . The author eloquently
illustrates the dangers of narrowly defining a feminist according
to what issues they support. Instead, she argues for feminism to
become an umbrella of people with differing political views, sexual
orientations, and religions who seek to strengthen women, without
the need to demean men. Intriguing and thought provoking for
readers interested in different perspectives of feminism."
--Stacy Shaw, Library Journal
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