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Camille Paglia on Marriage

February 16, 2010 by B. Daniel Blatt

While quoting Camille Paglia in my dissertation, I chanced up on another comment I had flagged in her landmark, Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson:

Marriage is the social regulation and placement of sexual energies, which for [English poet Edmund] Spenser otherwise fall back into the anarchy of nature, rule by the will-to-power and survival of the fittest.  Marriage is the sanctified link between nature and society.  Sex in Spenser must always have a social goal.

Save perhaps for Jonathan Rauch, gay marriage advocates have yet to defend marriage in such terms.  Perhaps, they might get a better response from the American people if they did.

Filed Under: Divas, Gay Marriage, Literature & Ideas

Comments

  1. Tim says

    February 16, 2010 at 5:18 pm - February 16, 2010

    Reference to academia to underscore need for validation of intelligence. Check.

    Poor link that adds nothing to the conversation or illicits any sort of excitement among the reader. Check.

    Dig that provides nothing to contribute to movement for equality and underscores authors self-loathing of his own gayness. Check.

    Nobody reading, commenting or caring. Check.

    ANOTHER DAN BLATT CLASSIC!

    You know children in Africa have no dedicated servers to display their incoherant rambling to the world. 🙁 Have you ever considered you could contribute a lot more to the world than writing irrelevant regurgitations of other people’s points that no one reads with your time and energy, Dan? Isn’t there a Big Brothers and Sisters program nearby that needs mentors spewing illiterate nonsense to 3rd graders or something? At least when 8 year olds stare at you blankly, you can feel smarter to actual people, you know.

  2. B. Daniel Blatt says

    February 16, 2010 at 5:24 pm - February 16, 2010

    Wow, Tim, you really do hate me, don’t you?

    Please show me how I underscore my self-loathing of my own gayness, as you claim. Looks like you spent more time ranting against me than I do crafting this post.

    Fascinating your obsession with me. You talked to a shrink about this. Surely, you need the intervention of Athena who, in the Eumenides, transformed the Furies such that their leader declared, “I can feel the hate/the fury slip away.”

    Oh, and thank you for making my time yet again. That I could generate such a response indicates I’m getting somewhere, alas that you’re incompetent to address my point about the meaning of marriage.

  3. rusty says

    February 16, 2010 at 5:47 pm - February 16, 2010

    Is There a Place for Gay People in Conservatism and Conservative Politics?

    Featuring Nick Herbert, MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Conservative Party, United Kingdom; Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish Blog, The Atlantic; and Maggie Gallagher, President, National Organization for Marriage.

    http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=6987

    Under the leadership of David Cameron, Britain’s Conservative Party has jettisoned much of its former opposition to gay rights. Cameron supported civil unions for gays and appointed a number of openly gay men to his shadow cabinet. Nick Herbert will explain the reasons for those changes and elaborate on the new Conservative social agenda. Will the United States follow the British example? Our distinguished panel will consider the future of gay people’s participation in mainstream society and conservative politics on both sides of the Atlantic.

  4. B. Daniel Blatt says

    February 16, 2010 at 5:57 pm - February 16, 2010

    rusty, much as I love Cato–and have donated to them in years past, I can’t take very seriously a panel that features world-famous gynecological expert Andrew “Doc” Sullivan. He has had nothing kind to say about conservatives for nigh on six years.

  5. ILoveCapitalism says

    February 16, 2010 at 6:03 pm - February 16, 2010

    Agreed – Sullivan is a wild-eyed conspiracy-nut Obama-endorsing leftist, at this point. Putting him on a panel of “conservatives” (or any panel) is offensive to intellectual integrity, and good taste.

  6. rusty says

    February 16, 2010 at 6:11 pm - February 16, 2010

    looking more to the Brit: Nick Herbert will explain the reasons for those changes and elaborate on the new Conservative social agenda.

  7. B. Daniel Blatt says

    February 16, 2010 at 6:15 pm - February 16, 2010

    But, it would be nice to have some Americans familiar with the changes on the right here in the good ol’ US of A, you know like someone from GOProud or GayPatriot. I mean, isn’t the GayPatriot gonna be in DC anyway this week?

  8. Ashpenaz says

    February 16, 2010 at 6:40 pm - February 16, 2010

    The ELCA presents their reasons for acceptance of gay unions in much the same terms as Spenser, as does the Episcopal and UCC churches. Those of us gay Christians are familiar with other paradigms of gay sexuality than those you find in Pride parades.

  9. The_Livewire says

    February 16, 2010 at 8:50 pm - February 16, 2010

    Funny that Tim mentions African Children in his screed.

    Given his “love” of 15 year olds having sex with adults though, we shouldn’t be surprised.

  10. Sean A says

    February 16, 2010 at 9:33 pm - February 16, 2010

    #9: Yes, The_Livewire. We can always count on Tim to pop up for two things: (1) wildly histrionic condemnations of GayPatriot’s contributors and their ideas, which he mischaracterizes; and (2) unrivaled, passionate, unwavering defenses on behalf of pedophilia and those who act to conceal it.

  11. killiteten - Native Intelligence says

    February 16, 2010 at 10:08 pm - February 16, 2010

    #1 Tim you betray your lack of intelligence by using a word that doesnt exist. Illicits isnt a word. Elicits actually is the word you should have used. The attempt at indignant articulation and contempt doesnt cut it here. It wouldnt cut it in person. Your points have been overused and are easily seen as flimsy rhetoric. You demonstrate an inability to dialogue and take the easy road of “being professionally indignant.”

  12. B. Daniel Blatt says

    February 16, 2010 at 10:32 pm - February 16, 2010

    Thanks guys for defending me. It’s much appreciated! Very much!

  13. ThatGayConservative says

    February 17, 2010 at 12:42 am - February 17, 2010

    Unhinged liberal douchebag hatred: Check

    Projection of one’s own self-loathing onto others: Check

    Mindless bullshit that would cause even 3rd graders to wonder “WTF?!?”: Check

  14. DRH says

    February 18, 2010 at 12:06 am - February 18, 2010

    Rauch’s arguments aside, I think most Americans would belittle or ignore almost any book with the word Personae in the title. Furthermore the quoted passage is one I believe most Americans would not find persuasive.

    In short form: I don’t see how this line of argument would be of any benefit.

    Most likely the response would be “how can you sanctify that which is NOT natural!”

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