Author/social commentator Camille Paglia is what one would call an anomaly in that she claims to be both feminist and anti-feminist. Camille, an humanities professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, first burst onto the national scene in 1990 with the release of her book Sexual Personae: Art & Decadence From Nefertiti To Emily Dickinson that presents what some have perceived as “incendiary” theories on Western culture from ancient Greece to Elvis. Paglia became even more famous—and more infamous—with the release of her follow-up books Sex, Art & American Culture and Vamps & Tramps. Her philosophy, which has drawn considerable ire from feminists and other critics, incorporated paganism, Madonna and Freud. Camille also insists to be “radically pro-pornography” and has even publicly supported the controversial organization NAMBLA (the North American Man-Boy Love Association, for those of you who don’t watch The O’Reilly Factor on a regular basis). However, Camille Paglia has seemingly dropped out of the public spotlight since the late-nineties, only popping up sporadically on TV and in magazines (and occasionally in the movies). The last magazine appearance I’ve seen Camille make was in the October 1998 issue of Penthouse where she wrote yet another article blasting modern-day feminists and feminism (and where she also made the surprising—and, to me, rather disappointing—statement regarding the-then Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal/debacle how “married governors or presidents . . . should not be dropping their pants in front of female underlings or secretly preying on buxom young interns” when it was quite clear that it was Monica who was first showing her rather full thong to Bill and doing the “secret preying”). Still, regardless of how many times she appears on TV and in print, Camille Paglia is a force to be reckoned with (or, at least, was) in the feminist world. Just ask Gloria Steinem and Tammy Bruce!
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