Privacy

Pussy Riot in Austin (photo: Jno. Skinner)

What was formerly the province of intimacy has been politicized. Expressing oneself sexually is tantamount to showing up at a demonstration. Did you bring your cis gender placard to the rally? Art has become political. Remember the storm of controversy about the depiction of Emmett Till by a white artist Dana Schutz or the cancellation of the Philip Guston retrospective due to Klansmen paintings? What's even more bedeviling is the politicizing of the political. There are no more micro positions. Oh for the days of the secret ballot! You're either for or against. Don't try to express an opinion on the Columbia University campus! You'll be detained for simply having one. Did anyone learn anything in the light of the mattress protest in which the accused and the accuser ended up switching places? BTW New York State has "affirmative consent" laws. Don't go to bed with anyone unless you've put your "position" in writing! 

read Mark Segal on Hallie Cohen, The East Hampton Star

and listen to "Papa Don't Preach" by Madonna