Here is a radical opinion :)

"Women will never get any further than their power relationships with strategically placed men allow them"

I think I can prove that from natural observation and common sense.
and.. is it neccessarily a bad thing ?

Boaz
There is a very simple method that can be used to test the validity of many statements that are made regarding gender, which is to reverse the statement or add both genders to the statement.

So the original statement is :-

1/ “Women will never get any further than their power relationships with strategically placed men allow them”

This can be changed to :-
2/ “Men will never get any further than their power relationships with strategically placed women allow them”

Or:-
3/ “Women and men will never get any further than their power relationships with other strategically placed men and women allow them”

Now once the full range of statements are written down, then techniques can be used to determine which one is the most accurate. “Certain” people in “certain” organisations will immediately go for no.1, and will use a narrow magnifying glass to look at history so as to support their claims, and then they will try and indoctrinate the young and other people with their now biased claims. Standard practice.

But if you were to look at history fully, then the statement most likely to be true is no.3, as there have been many women in positions of power or control, and they have been just as good/bad as any male. (EG “Bloody Mary” or Mary 1 of England, to recent events at Abu Ghraib prison involving female guards )

So no 3 is the most probable.

But back to the article in OLO. The author of this article seems to regard Greer with the highest esteem. Eg. “ There’s a wonderful 1971 cover of Life magazine which shows Germaine Greer laughing and flaunting those famous lanky legs. What a woman she was - and privately probably still is. Intelligent, liberated, sexy, funny. The kind of woman men and women want to be around.”

Really?

This is how another woman describes Greer in a speech given at the World Congress of Families III, Mexico City, March 29, 2004 (http://www.beverlylahayeinstitute.org/articledisplay.asp?id=5435&department=BLI&categoryid=commentary)

“Germaine Greer –– Known as the diva of feminism, Germaine Greer is, like Gloria Steinem, now in her 60s. Greer has two books: The Female Eunuch kick-started her fame and The Whole Woman, published recently, basically repudiates everything Greer had said previously. Known for her bawdy diatribes, Greer preached that sexual liberation is the path to fulfillment. Greer has had "several" abortions –– which left her unable to have children. She has stooped in recent months to getting attention by being an apologist for female genital mutilation. She was married –– briefly –– for three weeks, during which time, she brags, she cheated on her husband seven times. But at age 60, she mused: "The finest time in your life was when you fell asleep in someone's arms and woke up in the same position eight hours later. Sleeping in someone's arms is the prize." Inevitably, she sleeps alone.”

So you have two quite conflicting views there on Greer. One by a person who admires Greer and wants her to be a role model for young girls, and another by a person who regards Greer as the opposite. You can make your own mind up regards this, but personally I don’t believe Catharine Lumby.