Houellebecq and Stev Brian claims to have been good friends with a friend of one of the women. That does not ensure that the account is accurate but it also means that he has better sources than we do. I've just realized that I somehow missed the second page of the article on first reading and it contains the following

"That condemnation of lesbians was driven more by the women of the establishment than by the men."

I don't think that this piece is written as an attack on men, by reacting so strongly it's diminishes the impact when we address serious attacks on men. Brian has written a piece about two women who were very different for their time. He has not just singled the male establishment out.

The article closes with the comment "Germaine - now you need to write a book about women who are not under the control of anybody."

Give Brian a break and enjoy the piece as a celebration of those who step outside the mold and a recognition of the cost that can be part of doing so.

R0bert

""The article closes with the comment "Germaine - now you need to write a book about women who are not under the control of anybody.""

Funny that should be said, because she did. It was called her PhD. The book 'The Female Eunuch" was the anti-thesis, a refutation of a thesis which is commonly written along with a 'literary' PhD so that the arguements can be subjected to scrutiny.

Germaine Greer's feminist publishers paid her handsomely for the anti-thesis and the PhD was put in Embargo. No-one is permitted to read it.

So she had her cake (the 'Dr') and ate it too (the cash and fame) and has dined out on both ever since.

stev, embellishment is the essence of story telling.

Maybe it's Info-tainment.

'But then is it still acceptable to create caricatures of men of that era based on some archetype of the "typical" 1920s male? I seem to recall that negative stereotypes of women in contemporary (fictional) media have been decried by feminists in the past. Do we extend the same courtesy to men?'

Good point. I suppose I for one am used to this kind of phenomena. I don't think you can expect feminists to exhibit equality. It's just not what they're about. The very term 'fem-inism' should be a clue.

'So she had her cake (the 'Dr') and ate it too (the cash and fame) and has dined out on both ever since.'

Good for her.

""Good for her""

Sure, let's cheer for the fleas of the Black Plague while we are being generous.