Sexual Personae Today

: Paglia posits that men created civilization as a defensive "Apollonian" response to the overwhelming power of women and nature.

Paglia's story of Western culture is defined by a central conflict between two ancient Greek forces: Sexual Personae

: This is the "female" force of nature—chaos, instinct, and the primal urges that civilization tries to suppress but can never fully extinguish. : Paglia posits that men created civilization as

The book became a flashpoint for debate due to Paglia's uncompromising and often controversial stances: Its author, , set out to prove a

In the shadow of the 1990s, a 736-page tome titled Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson burst onto the academic scene like a dionysian storm. Its author, , set out to prove a provocative thesis: that beneath the thin veneer of Western civilization lies a dark, roiling ocean of primal nature that Christianity never truly tamed. The War of the Gods