Category Archives: Sexuality

Acting the Part

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Abigail

Acting the Part When I was newly arrived in Paris as a young Fulbright Scholar, I was invited to have lunch at the home of the Israeli ambassador to France. He was my mother’s first cousin. Hence the invitation. We … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, books, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Gender Balance, glitterati, hegemony, hierarchy, history of ideas, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Memoir, memory, Modernism, Moral psychology, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, status, status of women, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Time, twentieth century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged ambassadorial residence, annals of contempt, bad faith, beaux quartiers, cheap meals, comme il faut, cousins, exchange of courtesies, feeling flustered, France, French waiter, Fulbright Scholar, Israeli ambassador, Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness, kiss on both cheeks, Latin Quarter, Les Deux Magots, long red carpet, luncheon guest, mauvaise foi, Mme. Ambassador, Paris, philosophers’ cafe, pitiless gaze, role playing, Saint Germain des Pres, servants’ esteem, servants’ gaze, social zero, Stendahl’s The Red and The Black, student restaurant card, student restaurants, the gaze | 2 Comments

Love Stories

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Abigail

Love Stories Just now I am reading a book Jerry got me, titled, Love in the Western World. Translated from the French, it’s by a guy named Denis de Rougement. With a name like that, and a title like that, … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Alienation, Art, Art of Living, Autonomy, beauty, Bible, Biblical God, books, Childhood, Chivalry, Christianity, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, Erotic Life, Eternity, Existentialism, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, hidden God, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, Medieval, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Mysticism, nineteenth-century, Oppression, pacifism, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victims, Violence, War, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Anti-social behavior, Arthur Schopenhauer, Bad lovers, Betrayals, Between the world wars, chemical imbalance, childhood reading, chivalry, Coup de foudre, death wish, Deprivation experiments, Eros in the Bible, Erotic force, ethology, Fatal passion, Fealty, Feudal obligations, Film-making genius, France and Germany, Francois Orzon’s Franz, French soldiers, Freudian theory, Friedrich Nietzsche, German soldiers, Hard-wired behavior, Hidden love, Innate behavior, Jean-Paul Sartre, King Mark of Cornwall, la carte de tendre, map of love, Marie-Henri Beyle, Medieval knights, Medieval legends, Modern attitudes, Natural instincts, Nazi era, Nietzsche’s influence, Personal advice, Personal loyalty, personal relations, Post-modern attitudes, Primal urges, psychoanalysis, Romantic Love, romantic yearning, Sigmund Freud, Social obligations, Song of Songs, Stendahl, Sublimation, Tragic love, Tristan and Iseult, Troubadors, Unconscious desires, Unspoken romance, Vanished worlds, Western romantic tradition, world history, World War I, Year 1919 | 1 Comment

Nibbles from the Tree of Knowledge

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Abigail

Nibbles from the Tree of Knowledge On my night table for last read of the evening is a book with the title, Forbidden Knowledge. It concerns a topic that I’d never considered as such: whether there are, or ought … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Afterlife, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Bible, Biblical God, books, Christianity, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, Health, Hegel, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Jews, Judaism, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Martyrdom, Masculinity, memory, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, nineteenth-century, Ontology, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, Poetry, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, Propaganda, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Reading, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Renaissance, Roles, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sexuality, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged "the moderns", absurdist philosophies, Adam and Eve, Aristotle, Aristotle's Metaphysics, bedtime reading, book of Genesis, broken places, classical civilization, cognitive powers, corrupt intelligence, curiosity, curiosity and its dangers, cynicism, dialectic and its dangers, divine prohibition, fundamental values, getting help in life, greatness of philosophy, Greco-Roman source, Hegel, hollowness of soul, Judeo-Christian Civilization, knowing too much, logos of the cosmos, moral dangers, noble truth, original sin, philosophic journey, philosophic rationalism, philosophy and culture, philosophy and zeitgeist, philosophy's goal, philosophy’s influence, Prometheus, Prometheus punished, rational animal, Roger Shattuck’s Forbidden Knowledge: From Prometheus to Pornography, scientism, secular science, Socrates, Socratic ignorance, Spinoza, stealing fire, the ancients, The Enlightenment, The Garden of Eden, the great rationalists, the great systems, the hard problems, the meaning of life, the medievals, theology of The Fall, theory of everything, tree of knowledge, tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Western Civilization, world historical hero | 4 Comments

Men on the Timeline

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Abigail

Men on the Timeline The other night I was at the Franco-Tunisian café where I go to get some of my writing done. A sizeable group had taken one side of the section where I found a round table. They … Continue reading →

Posted in "Absolute Freedom and Terror", Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, bigotry, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, Guilt and Innocence, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Oppression, Past and Future, Phenomenology of Mind, Philosophy, politics, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged #metoo, a false life, artists under communism, award-winning films, believing in nothing, believing propaganda, black and white film, breaking faith, cafe eavesdropping, chivalry, classy cafe, communism v capitalism, communist-ruled Poland, condescension, deflecting advances, enabling sexism, escape to Paris, feminist preoccupations, foreign films, France, Franco-Tunisian cafe, grotesque sexism, heaven protect the working girl, high-end customers, human interconnectedness, ideality in men, ideology, inauthenticity, Iron Curtain, le coup de foudre, local diner, loss of faith, loss of trust, love without history, male protectiveness, male pushback, male revenge, manipulativeness, men who can cry, men’s new roles, night on the town, nihilism, out of line remarks, outmoded sexism, Paris, Parisian memories, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War, permission to protest, Poland, Polish films, positive male role models, power advantage, pre-feminist days, pretended feminists, psychic interconnectedness, put downs, realistic men, redefining women, redefining women’s lives, reliable men, restaurant eavesdropping, romantic films, sensitivity training, sexist backlash, shared world, the French erotic model, the law of the brute, the party line, Tristan and Isolde, tunnel vision, uncalled for remarks, Upper Bohemia, what women want, women sharing a secret, women’s assertiveness, women’s self-definition, writers at cafes | Leave a comment

Male Gallantry

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Abigail

Male Gallantry Like Edgar Allan Poe’s Raven, here’s a topic that’s been tapping on the casement of my mind during the past few weeks. It’s reminded me of an incident that happened some years back, when I was tenured, published … Continue reading →

Posted in Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, Anthropology, Art of Living, Atheism, Autonomy, Biblical God, bigotry, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Immorality, Institutional Power, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Masculinity, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Philosophy, Poetry, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, Time, twentieth century, victimhood, victims, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged aborted courtship, academic philosophy, alternative cancer treatments, American Philosophical Association, becoming a theist, beleaguered woman, boring and middle-aged, Bullying, Certified Big Shot, collegial expectations, collegiality, cop out, Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven, emasculated, false pretenses, feminist credentials, fireman friend, former buddies, gang’s all here, ganging up, going along to get along, groupthink, holistic cancer treatment, holistic treatments, jerking people around, joining the mob, life and death decisions, male gallantry, male weakness, male/female bullying, man into worm, old friends, outnumbered, philosophical atheism, philosophical theism, philosophy, phony feminist, professional life, pseudo-authenticity, pseudo-defender of the underdog, renewed courtship, ridicule, search for wisdom, siding with one’s adversaries, stab in the back, the queen of sciences, turning on a buddy, unmanly men, women and children last | 2 Comments

Normal?

Posted on January 29, 2019 by Abigail

Normal? There were many things I wanted to be when I grew up, but one of them was NORMAL. Since the counter-culture hadn’t yet come to public notice, normal was the only option offered to young girls at that time. … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute freedom and terror, Absurdism, Academe, Action, Alienation, American Politics, Anthropology, Art of Living, Autonomy, bureaucracy, Childhood, Chivalry, Cities, Class, conformism, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Ideology, Idolatry, Immorality, Institutional Power, Jews, Law, Legal Responsibility, life and death struggle, Literature, Love, Male Power, Martyrdom, Masculinity, master, master/slave relation, Memoir, memory, Mind Control, Modernism, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, Mortality, Oppression, Past and Future, Peace, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, post modernism, Power, presence, promissory notes, Propaganda, Psychology, public facade, Public Intellectual, Race, Reductionism, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, scientism, secular, Seduction, self-deception, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, Social Conventions, social ranking, Sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, Terror, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Theology, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, Violence, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged absolutely normal, abuse and harassment therapy, acupuncture, adventures and misadventures, body language, camel hair coats, category mistake, Chinese Herbal treatment, college co-eds, college romance, cultural expectations, cultural norms, culture and counterculture, defensible life, dream verdict, dream vision, equine coach, experiments with truth, featureless normality, French womanly wisdom, horse sense, horse talk, ideals for young girls, inhabiting one’s body, inhabiting one’s intentions, massage therapy, Me Too, medical checkup, movie stars, Normal, normality, norms, other-directedness, peripheral neuropathy, personal repair, pretended adoration, primary care physician, Princeton town, Princeton University, public approval, qualitative norms, realized intentions, Smith girls, social kiss of death, statistical averages, wisdom figure | Leave a comment

Our Twentieth Wedding Anniversary

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Abigail

Our Twentieth Wedding Anniversary Today, the twentieth of January, is the actual day of our 20th wedding anniversary, though we had our celebratory dinner last Friday, after seeing the James Baldwin movie, “If Beale Street Could Talk.” At the restaurant, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academe, Action, Anthropology, Art of Living, beauty, Biblical God, books, Chivalry, Cities, Class, Contemplation, Contradictions, Cool, Courage, Courtship, Cultural Politics, Culture, Desire, dialectic, Erotic Life, Eternity, Ethics, Evil, Existentialism, exploitation, Faith, Fashion, Femininity, Feminism, Films, Freedom, Friendship, Gender Balance, glitterati, Guilt and Innocence, Health, hegemony, Heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, History, history of ideas, ID, Idealism, Ideality, Identity, Idolatry, Immorality, Immortality, Institutional Power, Legal Responsibility, Literature, Love, Masculinity, Memoir, memory, Moral action, Moral evaluation, Moral psychology, morality, novels, Ontology, Past and Future, Philosophy, Political, Political Movements, politics of ideas, Power, presence, promissory notes, Psychology, Public Intellectual, Race, Reading, relationships, Religion, Roles, Romance, Romantic Love, Romanticism, secular, Sex Appeal, Sexuality, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, Spirituality, status, status of women, Suffering, The Examined Life, The Problematic of Men, The Problematic of Woman, the profane, the sacred, Theism, Time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Work, Writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged academic criteria, academic dissenter, academic fights, anniversary, attraction of opposites, avoiding fights, “If Beale Street Could Talk”, black ex-patriot writers, boringly normal, bracketing attachments, bracketing the natural attitude, celebratory dinner, collegial rivalry, contemplation of essences, cri de coeur, defining projects, desire to know, dodging fights, Edmund Husserl, emotional defenses, emotional intelligence, falling in love, falling out of love, fight to the finish, fight with my name on it, James Baldwin, knowing one is in love, life risks, life summersault, life-changing summons, literary cri de coeur, love and courage, male ego, marital adjustments, marital real life, Marriage, movie goers, movie reviews, nostalgia, outing someone, Patrick Moynihan, personnel decisions, phenomenological reduction, political firing, political strategizing, queer and black, religious experience, religious summons, restaurant noise, Richard Wright, risking sacred things, romantic courage, romantic idealization, romantic while black, sacred things, saving Brooklyn College, sharing a world, sharing values, the marital adventure, the meaning of marriage, the right wife, vital things, wedding anniversary, womanly skills, writer’s rivalry, yearning | 2 Comments

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Category Archives: Sexuality

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