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Camille Paglia on "sperm, semen, ejaculate, seed, man fluid, baby gravy, jizz, cum, pearl necklace, gentleman's relish, wad, pimp juice, number 3, load, spew, donut glaze, spunk, gizzum, cream, hot man mustard, squirt, goo, spunk, splooge..."

Via Arts & Letters Daily comes (coff, coff) this Chronicle of Higher Education review-essay by Camille Paglia about three new books about male sexuality:

A welcome development of the past decade has been the expansion of the gender lens to include men, who were routinely stereotyped by women's-studies curricula as they took shape from the 1970s on.... despite their greater sexual sophistication, the three books under review still retain traces of the old archfeminist censoriousness toward men - or, more exactly, toward the majority of men in the world who do not happen to conform to the tidy bourgeois values of political correctness....

Gender studies, for all its trafficking with porn and pop, too often paints a bleak, condescending picture of ordinary human life. Alternate views (even from among dissident feminists) are not considered or evidently even imagined. When any field becomes a closed circle, the result is groupthink and cant. The stultifying clichés of gender studies must end. But in the meantime, all faculty members should vow, through their own scholarly idealism rather than by external coercion, not to impose their political or sexual ideology on impressionable students, who deserve better.

More here, including the circumscribed everlasting gob-stopping litany of terms cited in the title of this post.

reason writers on "the man who marketed sperm" and Impotence: A Cultural History.

reason interview (1995) with Paglia here.

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Comments to "Camille Paglia on "sperm, semen, ejaculate, seed, man fluid, baby gravy, jizz, cum, pearl necklace, gentleman's relish, wad, pimp juice, number 3, load, spew, donut glaze, spunk, gizzum, cream, hot man mustard, squirt, goo, spunk, splooge..."":

mk | September 21, 2007, 10:36am | #

Sheesh. I had totally forgotten about her. I read Sexual Personae back when I was in college (A long time ago). She is an awesome lady.

Lamar | September 21, 2007, 10:37am | #

I, for one, have never heard the term "hot man mustard."

SugarFree | September 21, 2007, 10:44am | #

I hadn't heard "Number 3." I always thought a "Number 3" was when you sneezed while take a dump.

SugarFree | September 21, 2007, 10:47am | #

Stupid gerunds.

SM | September 21, 2007, 10:49am | #

"Pearl Jam" is a synonym for jism ? Well, I never !

Reinmoose | September 21, 2007, 10:56am | #

I already regret having read this thread :)

lunchstealer | September 21, 2007, 10:57am | #

I get the impression that she's talking about evolution juice, or what Gen. Jack D. Ripper (who'd kick Patreus's ass six ways from Sunday, according to MoveOn.org) refers to as his 'precious bodily fluids'.

Also spunk's in there twice, although that may just be for emphasis.

SugarFree | September 21, 2007, 10:58am | #

SM,

You don't even want to know what "Even Flow" is a synonym for...

VM | September 21, 2007, 11:01am | #

Reinmoose | September 21, 2007, 10:56am | #
I already regret having read this thread :)
oooh!!! is this a contest???

Warren | September 21, 2007, 11:02am | #

Has gender studies contributed anything of value?

lunchstealer | September 21, 2007, 11:08am | #

Sheesh. I had totally forgotten about her. I read Sexual Personae back when I was in college (A long time ago). She is an awesome lady.

I've got to admit, while I by no means agree with all she says, she's got a hell of a way with words, and always brings something to her subjects that you'd never think of on your own.

I really miss her old Salon.com column, which was about the only thing I consistently read there. I used to go to Salon once a month or so, to check on whether she'd done another column, but when it became clear that she wasn't returning, I mostly stopped going.

J sub D | September 21, 2007, 11:09am | #

Has gender studies contributed anything of value?

Maybe. Probably? I can't think of anything but somebody will surely point out something on this thread.

Warren | September 21, 2007, 11:10am | #

SM,

You don't even want to know what "Even Flow" is a synonym for...


I do.

Reinmoose | September 21, 2007, 11:12am | #

re: splooge
I was under the impression it was "spooge"

pistofnick | September 21, 2007, 11:15am | #

12'-4"!!!!!!??????

Years of dedicated practice and I can't even hit the ceiling. ;^(

SugarFree | September 21, 2007, 11:17am | #

Has gender studies contributed anything of value?

Stripping as an empowering act?

Zizzy | September 21, 2007, 11:18am | #

I prefer the term: "gentleman's relish"

ed | September 21, 2007, 11:18am | #

Yuk. I was barfing halfway through that intro. Thanks for ruining my appetite.

RonPaul2008 | September 21, 2007, 11:27am | #

Regarding Headline, missed "Skeet." Popular with the hip-hop and porn set.

lunchstealer | September 21, 2007, 11:27am | #

hot man-mustard

If it's a condiment, shouldn't it be Miracle-of-life Whip?

RonPaul2008 | September 21, 2007, 11:30am | #

...Miracle-of-life Whip?
Ooh, cleaver. And gross, already disliked mayonaise....

Cesar | September 21, 2007, 11:39am | #

Warn us next time when the title might not be NWS.

GILMORE | September 21, 2007, 11:41am | #

NWS?

NSFW you mean, acrotard

GILMORE | September 21, 2007, 11:42am | #

I call it "PotentialGilmore" FWIW

Cesar | September 21, 2007, 11:43am | #

NSFW you mean, acrotard

No, I mean NWS. Not Work Suitable.

The Wine Commonsewer | September 21, 2007, 11:43am | #

I always thought a "Number 3" was when you sneezed while take a dump.

Thunk! Ow! That was me falling out of my chair on my shoulder because I was LOL.

The Wine Commonsewer | September 21, 2007, 11:46am | #

or Not Work Safe. Or Not Kid Safe. It's for the kids you know.

I've always had a theory that if the university system was not tax supported that Gender Studies would never have become a discipline. Dude, he said discipline [smirks].

lunchstealer | September 21, 2007, 11:50am | #

You're sure it's not "Now With Smurfs"? Because Smurfs make anything more ironically retro.

Eric S. | September 21, 2007, 11:56am | #

You forgot throat yogurt.

Xmas | September 21, 2007, 11:58am | #

Wrong wrong wrong!

It's "Man Gravy" and "Baby Batter", not "Baby Gravy".

At least we aren't talking about corn butter.

Warren | September 21, 2007, 11:59am | #

I've always had a theory that if the university system was not tax supported that Gender Studies would never have become a discipline.

Huh? Wasn't Gender Studies incubated and hatched in the elite all-girls private liberal arts schools?

But since you say "university system" I guess you mean the pubic funds funneled to private schools are to blame. I don't think so. I think over privileged debutantes determined to continue being victims after the womens lib movement of the 60's and 70's would have created this thing no matter who was paying the bills.

That's the problem with successful social movements. Nobody ever declares victory and goes home.

SxCx | September 21, 2007, 12:04pm | #

"Number 3"

Thank you for bringing this into my world.

Legate Damar | September 21, 2007, 12:07pm | #

Warren,

Or, in the case of prohibitionists, no one ever declares defeat and just goes home.

ed | September 21, 2007, 12:07pm | #

Number 4 is when your spleen comes out.

uncle sam | September 21, 2007, 12:09pm | #

You forgot throat yogurt.

Throgurt!

J sub D | September 21, 2007, 12:28pm | #

Bundle this thread up and mail it to the English department at your local institution of higher learning! This in unquestionably a significant contribution to the study of liguistics/semantics. I had no idea there were so many synonyms for erupting love juice.

Reinmoose | September 21, 2007, 12:32pm | #

what about just "love?"
There's this glorious line in a really awesome funk song that goes "I'm gonna squirt my love in your eye..." or something like that.

ed | September 21, 2007, 12:41pm | #

I'm happy to see that Nick has read Peter North's autobiography.

Wait, no I'm not.

Terry | September 21, 2007, 12:56pm | #

Nick you once denied you were greek.
With that headline I think you ought to stop denying.
Maybe ethinically your not Greek*, but spiritually definitely.

Since the Romans emulated the Greeks doesn't that mean there is a little greek in all Italians?

ed | September 21, 2007, 12:59pm | #

There was a little Greek in Jackie Onassis.

ChrisO | September 21, 2007, 1:04pm | #

My personally, totally biased opinion is that any university program with the word "Studies" in it is probably hogwash. Good indication of how prosperous we are, though, that we afford to have powerful minds fitter away their time on such things.

Cesar | September 21, 2007, 1:07pm | #

Good indication of how prosperous we are, though, that we afford to have powerful minds fitter away their time on such things.

People who take those kinds of courses don't exactly have powerful minds. They also give real liberal arts disciplines a bad name by association.

lunchstealer | September 21, 2007, 1:21pm | #

we afford to have powerful minds fitter away their time on such things.

Keeps them out of trouble. Mostly they should be glad we don't burn them at the stake.

Brandybuck | September 21, 2007, 2:02pm | #

Moore laments that sperm are portrayed as active, heroic protagonists with endearingly comic personalities, while the egg is lumpishly passive and boring. This "recurring narrative," she argues, fosters "male entitlement" and a sexist "superiority complex."
Well duh! Sperm are motile, eggs are not. It's not some patriarchal conspiracy, it's real world biology. But in feminism's perfect biology, I guess, eggs would be motile, and millions of them would be released during orgasm to travel up the male's uretha to seek out his single immotile sperm.

Bate's Master | September 21, 2007, 2:12pm | #

Years of dedicated practice and I can't even hit the ceiling. ;^(
I managed to hit my eye once by accident. At first I thought I really had gone blind...

lunchstealer | September 21, 2007, 2:18pm | #

Rigid Scholarship on Male Sexuality

Oh, just noticed the punchline in the article's title.

stubby | September 21, 2007, 2:20pm | #

The stultifying clichés of gGender studies must end.

Amen.

VM | September 21, 2007, 2:27pm | #

Saw that.

Lamar | September 21, 2007, 2:32pm | #

I think these gender studies classes are great. They get people to think about certain issues in critical ways, from different perspectives, etc. Getting a degree in gender studies is absurd.

Frank Booth | September 21, 2007, 3:06pm | #

"Since the Romans emulated the Greeks doesn't that mean there is a little greek in all Italians?"

With the Greek's penchant for sodomy, I wouldn't doubt there's quite a few Italians who've had a little Greek in them.

ed | September 21, 2007, 3:23pm | #

I think these gender studies classes are great.

Lamar, are you a lesbian?

dhex | September 21, 2007, 3:48pm | #

lolz you listen to other points of view lamar.

ha ha lamar's a gay.

Vanessa | September 21, 2007, 4:55pm | #

Lunchstealer, she is back on Salon, once monthly. I haven't enjoyed the new column as much as the old. It seems really offhanded and superficial compared to her previous column. It’s a bit like listening to my dad gripe about the news, only with much more colorful language.

On the upside, the reader responses are a hoot. The regular Salon readers absolutely loathe her. She always generates about 200 responses, about 95% of which are angry and scornful. Someone always drags Joan Walsh over the coals for giving her a forum and threatens to cancel their Salon subscription.

I liked her review & am glad to see that she hasn’t totally succumbed to a geriatric form of curmudgeonliness.

Rickm | September 21, 2007, 5:36pm | #

"Has gender studies contributed anything of value?"

Absolutely. Only someone completely ignorant of the subject and the field would suggest such a thing. (although asking the question is valid).

The entire discipline of history has benefited enormously from gender studies. Analyses of gender have make profound insights into studies of imperialism, colonialism, foreign policy, and of course, social and cultural history. Its hard to imagine a complete picture of the world without utilizing the category of gender in ones analysis.

For a specific example, see this:
http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-American-Manhood-Spanish-American-Philippine-American/dp/0300085540/ref=sr_1_1/002-3922252-1807229?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190410572&sr=8-1

Gender studies have given us profound insights into why the Mexican American war was initiated.

Terry | September 21, 2007, 6:37pm | #

There is breaking news relative to both gender studies and "sperm, spooge, male milk, jizz...
Maureen McCormick, who played Marica on the Brady Bunch, privately gender "studied" Eva Plumb, who played Jan on same show, alot.
Maureen had a crush on Eva and they got it on.
Ohh...
She doesn't explain when, like early in the show when they were "tweens" or later as teens.
But, well, the consequences is that they're will be alot, alot more than average, "man fluid, baby gravy, load..." produced tonight.
A real lot more.

ed | September 21, 2007, 8:17pm | #

I really really do want to study women. Both their minds and their juicy parts. But I cannot affort to attend a top-notch eastern school. Won't you help? Send contributions to "Save The Ed", PO Box 9859, Anytown, PA, 24680, or write to the link provided. I believe the women are our future. Or maybe the children. Whatever.

Mike Laursen | September 22, 2007, 2:24am | #

Hmm, I guess there are more than seven words you can't say on TV.

Jennifer | September 23, 2007, 10:14am | #

since you say "university system" I guess you mean the pubic funds funneled to private schools are to blame.

I'd drag myself over broken glass if all my typos could be this awesome.

Stevo Darkly | September 23, 2007, 8:31pm | #

Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!