It's by the late, great Molly Ivins - and after she's had her say, you almost feel like sending Ms. Paglia a belated sympathy card. Sorry about Molly kicking your ass like that.
A sample:
Why Paglia lays the blame for [yuppie fashion] at the feet of feminism is beyond me. Whatever our other aims may have been, no one in the feminist movement ever thought you are what you wear. The only coherent fashion statement I can recall from the entire movement was the suggestion that Mrs. Cleaver, Beaver's mom, would on the whole have been a happier woman had she not persisted in vacuuming while wearing high heels. This, I still believe.I can recall thinking that Paglia had a point or two - but I'd qualify that by saying my exposure to her viewpoint was via a staccato of sound bites. Interesting enough to listen to for the duration of the quote - might even leave you with a favorable impression - but as soon as you dig deeper your eyes start to roll into your head.
[snip]
What we have here, fellow citizens, is a crassly egocentric, raving twit. The Norman Podhoretz of our gender. That this woman is actually taken seriously as a thinker in New York intellectual circles is a clear sign of decandence, decay, and hopeless pinheadedness. Has no one in the nation's intellectual capital the background and ability to see through a web of categorical assertions? One fashionable line of response to Paglia is to claim that even though she may be fundamentally off-base, she has ``flashes of brilliance.'' If so, I missed them in her oceans of swill.
I'd say she was nuts - but Ms. Ivins already did that and more. It's a pity that Ivins is gone while Paglia's still spouting off, but that's they way of things.
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