Camile Paglia
by Aaron Steelman

When Camille Paglia hit the scene in 1990 with the publication of her first book, Sexual Personae, the feminist movement was completely comatose. The movement, which had been founded by fervent individualists firmly committed to the ideas of self-help and self-reliance, had been taken over by a group of people who equated feminism with dependency. The feminism of Susan B. Anthony, Rose Wilder Lane, and Isabel Paterson had been replaced by the feminism of Gloria Steinem, Catharine MacKinnon, and Andrea Dwo rkin. The demand for equal opportunity under the law had been replaced with the demand for affirmative action.; the demand for freedom in all affairs, including sexual, had been replaced with demands for widespread censorship. The feminist movement had re ached a low point in its long and hallowed history.

Paglia redefined the debate. She challenged the establishment and injected a much needed dose of individualism back into the movement. Her objective was to present an alternative to the Dworkins and MacKinnons, an alternative that viewed women as supremel y capable, instead of supremely weak. She turned the feminist establishment on its head. It is now nearly five years since the publication of Sexual Personae and Camille Paglia is still around. The charges that she was a charlatan or a flash in the pan have been put to rest. Paglia is continuing to push feminism in a positive direction, as wi tnessed by her most recent book, Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (Vintage, 532 pages).

Vamps and Tramps, despite its title, is not really a collection of new essays. Of the 43 pieces included in this volume, only 6 were specially written for the book. The rest have appeared previously in publications throughout the United States and England . Nevertheless, the reader won't be disappointed -- whether he has read them before, or is just now encountering them for the first time, he will be challenged and amused by nearly all of the essays included in the volume; they are vintage Paglia. Paglia sets the tone for the book in the introduction, writing, "Equal opportunity feminism, which I espouse, demands the removal of all barriers to woman's advance in the political and professional world -- but not at the price of special protections for women, which are infantalizing and anti-democratic. As a sixties libertarian, I also oppose overregulation of sexuality, which has risen to a totalitarian extreme over the past decade in America ... The state should have no power to oversee or regulate s olitary consensual activities, such as sodomy or suicide. Hence I strongly support the legalization of drugs and prostitution, and I am an extreme advocate of the most lurid forms of pornography ... The culture is at risk when the civil liberties are sacr ificed on the altar of career success." Clearly, Paglia has not mellowed in her late middle age. She is still filled with the same energy and vitality that embodied Sexual Personae and her second book, Sex, Art, and American Culture. Among the better essays included are: "The Return of Carry Nation: Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin," which originally appeared in Playboy, and "No Law in the Arena: A Pagan Theory of Sexuality," which running 75 pages is clearly the signature essay of the book. In the latter essay Paglia attempts to set forth, systematicaly, her philosophy of sexuality -- including her views of rape, abortion, sexual harrassment, pornography, and homosexuality. It is a very amibitious essay, one that quite successf ully integrates what she has been saying over the past five years on these complex topics.

Camille Paglia, while not an unqualified libertarian (she still has a long ways to go on matters economic) is clearly a force for the good. At a time when both the left and the right are willing to sacrifice civil liberties at the drop of a hat, Paglia's voice is refreshing and inspiring. All those who would like to see feminism saved from itself would be well served to read Vamps and Tramps.