The main problem facing today’s aging women is not sexism, Camille Paglia argues, but the lingering youth cult of the 1960s:
Traditional mating patterns have been disrupted: Marriage is postponed by extended education and early career demands. Because of easy divorce, middle-aged women are now competing with younger women for both men and jobs — and thus are resorting to costly interventions to look 20 years younger than they are.
If aging stars want to be taken seriously, they must find or recover a mature persona. Stop cannibalizing the young! Scrambling to stay relevant, Madonna is addicted to pointless provocations like her juvenile Instagrams or her trashy outfit with strapped-up bare buttocks and duct-taped nipples at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala in May. She has forgotten the legacy of her great precursor, Marlene Dietrich, who retained her class and style to the end of her public life.
I like Camille Paglia. She’s a Feminist and a Lesbian, but she doesn’t hate Men, or I don’t get that vibe from her at all. Most Feminists today hate Men.