Why I Love Camille Paglia

Camille Paglia is my spirit animal. She’s blunt, she’s honest and she understands the true meaning of equality and the importance of both mens and women’s rights. She herself admits she’s broken every gender norm, but also warns about the dangers of devaluing masculine virtues in this interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Bari Weiss.

It is this very interview that has gotten the internet so excited. And my own generation might fry me for this, but you know what? I love it. She might have a harsh approach, but she is dead on. The street smart feminism thing is a point I have been arguing for years. It goes hand in hand with her comment about people believing that everyone is inherently good. Sure it would be great if the works was a place where you could do whatever you want and have no consequences (ex: walk in a city at night in a slutty outfit and get no negative attention), but that’s not reality and never will be. And (especially millennial) feminists live in this fantasy world that isn’t helping. A great example of this is Lena Duhnam whining about being questioned about her constant nakedness on girls. If she wants to write herself naked in to almost every episode, awesome. But don’t throw a fit when you’re asked about it by the press.

She also makes a good point about college- why does everyone need it? If you want to be a mechanic or an electrician or a plumber, awesome. I like a car that runs and lights and a working toilet and have no idea how to fix any of those things. If it makes you happy and you can pay your bills, go for it.

The trendy push for girls to get in to STEM careers is a good example of this. Yes, girls need to be involved in science and math, but there’s nothing wrong with them also liking princesses and glitter and books. Exposing girls to JUST engineering careers is no better than exposing them to only being housewives. I’d rather expose them to princesses and science and books and physical play and let them find what they like. If the bug wants to work in a lab, awesome. If she wants to play Cinderella at the Magic Kingdom, that’s cool with me too. It goes the same for boys.

The funny conclusion I get from all this is that modern feminism, in its well-intentioned attempt to expand options for women, is actually limiting them for both women and men. I think the last paragraph says it best:

For all of Ms. Paglia’s barbs about the women’s movement, it seems clear that feminism—at least of the equal-opportunity variety—has triumphed in its basic goals. There is surely a lack of women in the C-Suite and Congress, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a man who would admit that he believes women are less capable. To save feminism as a political movement from irrelevance, Ms. Paglia says, the women’s movement should return to its roots. That means abandoning the “nanny state” mentality that led to politically correct speech codes and college disciplinary committees that have come to replace courts. The movement can win converts, she says, but it needs to become a big tent, one “open to stay-at-home moms” and “not just the career woman.