Camille Paglia

Camille Paglia, "Rape and Modern Sex War"

Camille Paglia (1947- ) was born in Endicott, New York and earned a B.A. from the State University of New York, Binghamton in 1968 and both an M.Phil. (1971) and a Ph.D. (1974) from Yale University. She has taught at Bennington College, Yale University, and at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia since 1984. Her controversial and bestselling books include Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson (1990), Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays (1991), and Vamps and Tramps: New Essays (1994). Paglia's also written a study of the Alfred Hitchcock classic, The Birds (1998). Paglia's writing frequently appears in such periodicals as Sight and Sound, the Wall Street Journal, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. "Rape and Modern Sex War" takes a divisive look at date rape. It was first published in Newsday in 1991, caused something of a national furor, and was reprinted in Sex, Art, and American Culture.

CONTENT

1. According to the author, generally, how has traditional feminism "put young women in danger"?
2. To what does the author compare date rape in paragraph two?
3. Which penalties for rape does the author discuss?
4. Describe the plot of the 1960 film Where the Boys Are.
5. According to Paglia, what is wrong with saying, "Rape is a crime of violence but not of sex"?
6. What relationship between sexual arousal and language does the author describe?
7. What does Paglia mean when she writes, "The old double standard protected women"?

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. To what does Paglia compare traditional feminists' views of sex in paragraph six? What imagery does this comparison evoke? How does this relate to the author's views about feminists?
2. Discuss this reading as either a comparison/contrast essay or as a definition essay. In either case, make sure you address all necessary terms and discuss the nature of the author's support for her main points.
3. The original title of this piece was "Rape: A Bigger Danger than Feminists Know." Which title is more effective? Explain. Speculate as to why the author changed it.
4. Study the language in paragraph eight in order to describe the author's tone there. Which specific words can you point to make your case? Is this tone consistent throughout the essay? Explain.

1. In general, how well do you get along with the opposite sex? Are there certain topics you seem to have difficulty addressing in this regard? How might your own communication with the opposite sex have influenced your reading?
2. How do you define the term "sexual politics"? How can you relate your definition to your reading?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. Can Paglia be called a feminist? Write an essay that studies Paglia's departures from traditional feminism. Use material from your reading and your own thoughts to explain whether her departures are reasonable ones.
2. Are the sexes at war, as Paglia says? If they are, does your notion of the war differ from hers? If they're not, what are they up to? In either case, explain using your reading and your own observations.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Do some research about date rape, covering the period from when this article was written to the present. Pick one college campus to focus your study, and answer these questions: What statistical trends about the reporting of date rape are apparent? How, if at all, have the school's policies about date rape changed over this time? What kinds of programs and services have been implemented?

WEB CONNECTION

Looking for a good place to start learning more about this author online? These Paglia links leading to articles by and about her, reviews, and other sites are a good place to begin.

LINKS

Biographical

This page has a brief biography of the author. How confident would you be using this information in a paper about Paglia? Explain.

Compare this longer biography to the one above. What things are mentioned here that the one above leaves out? What do you think accounts for the difference?

Bibliographical

For a wide variety of writings Paglia has done for Salon.com, with topics ranging from some musings about George W. to the aesthetic problems of The Sopranos, take a visit to this page.

Here's the transcript of an online interview Paglia did for AOL on the occasion of the publication of her book Vamps and Tramps. Among other things, she discusses why she's pro-porn and why she chose the screename Volsci.

Cultural

Looking for a quote by Paglia to use in a paper? This page has a lot of them, organized by book.

Interested in putting Paglia's work into the broader cultural context of feminist literature? This page of literary resources about feminism and women's literature will help you do just that.

Speaking of feminism, this Time magazine article takes a look at the state of the movement in the 1990s. In what context is Paglia mentioned here? Now that you know more about her, what do you think of this reference?