If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts" is a dictum by Camille Paglia recorded in Sexual Personae, in the chapter "Sex and Violence, or Nature and Art".
The whole paragraph reads:
- We could make an epic catalog of male achievements, from paved roads, indoor plumbing, and washing machines to eyeglasses, antibiotics, and disposable diapers. We enjoy fresh, safe milk and meat, and vegetables and tropical fruits heaped in snowbound cities. When I cross the George Washington Bridge or any of America’s great bridges, I think: men have done this. Construction is a sublime male poetry. When I see a giant crane passing on a flatbed truck, I pause in awe and reverence, as one would for a church procession. What power of conception, what grandiosity: these cranes tie us to ancient Egypt, where monumental architecture was first imagined and achieved. If civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts. A contemporary woman clapping on a hard hat merely enters a conceptual system invented by men. Capitalism is an art form, an Apollonian fabrication to rival nature. It is hypocritical for feminists and intellectuals to enjoy the pleasures and conveniences of capitalism while sneering at it. Even Thoreau’s Walden was just a two-year experiment. Everyone born into capitalism has incurred a debt to it. Give Caesar his due."
Dutch translation, 1992, Prometeus
"Als de beschaving altijd in handen van vrouwen was gebleven zouden we nog in strooien hutten leven. Een vrouw die vandaag de dag in de bouwvak werkt, functioneert slechts in een systeem dat door mannen is bedacht. Het kapitalisme is een kunstvorm, een apollinisch bedenksel om de natuur te tarten. Het is pure hypocrisie als feministen en intellectuelen wel de vruchten plukken van het kapitalisme, maar er ondertussen op neerkijken. Zelfs Walden van Thoreau is nooit verder gekomen dan een tweejarig experiment. Iedereen die in een kapitalistisch systeem geboren is, is daaraan schatplichtig.” p. 51
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