Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays

By Camille Paglia

A collection of twenty of Paglia's out-spoken essays on contemporary issues in America's ongoing cultural debate such as Anita Hill, Robert Mapplethorpe, the beauty myth, and the decline of education in America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 31, 2011
• ISBN: 9780307765550

Reviews for Sex, Art, and American Culture

[zoes_human · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

It's a pity Ms. Paglia is either unwilling or unable to assert her own thoughts without deriding others. She has a number of important and relevant things to speak about; however, her attitude that anyone who behaves or believes differently is bad, wrong, incompetent, and/or stupid leaves me unable to finish this book and unwilling to attempt anything else of hers.

[gregstevens_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For some highschool students, the works of Ayn Rand opened up new worlds of philosophy and psychology--a whole new way of looking at life.For me, it was this book by Camille Paglia. By now, the topics and references are a bit dated; that is bound to happen with cultural criticism, of course. But the central themes of her work are bound to resonate with any dissatisfied teen who is eager to rebel against "lofty intellectualism". Themes like: the feelings of the body are just as worthy of study as the thoughts of the mind; understanding sexuality means embracing all sides of it, not just the "clean" sides; animal human desires can be artistic, and should be appreciated and understood as powerful and beautiful... instead of being analysed away or repressed in favor of neater, tidier ideals.These are the basic ideas behind this book. I almost wish she would write another one now: something that would touch the same ideas and messages, but referencing the pop culture of today, instead of the pop-culture of the 80's. I think a new generation of highschool students could get an awful lot out of it.

[cecilturtle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rehash in shorter version of Sexual Personae