Althouse: "A few days after reviews began appearing, [Naomi] Wolf set sliced bananas and strawberries upon a coffee table (cut fruit had never before looked so vulval)..."

September 20, 2012

"A few days after reviews began appearing, [Naomi] Wolf set sliced bananas and strawberries upon a coffee table (cut fruit had never before looked so vulval)..."

"... and took a seat on the deep, plush couch in the yellow-painted living room of her sunny West Village apartment. She was wearing a flowing black wrap over a loose knit tank, tan strappy heels and a tight smile."

Catty observations on the food, the decorating, and the fashion of the famous feminist who opened her home — if not her vagina — to the NYT reporter.

Flowing black wrap and a loose knit tank... you know what that means! Naomi is striving to put her vagina in the newspaper, and mean old Lauren Sandler is calling her fat in so many words.

72 comments:

Bob Ellison said...: That's what that means? It was a fat whistle? I'm dense about these things, but really?; 9/20/12, 8:41 AM
Known Unknown said...: Sycophants.; 9/20/12, 8:42 AM
RonF said...: So how many people really care about what Naomi Woods writes, or what a few other people think about it?; 9/20/12, 8:44 AM
Comanche Voter said...: Well better to put it in the New York Times than on the street.

Who writes this crapola?
Who cares about this crapola?
When will the world talk about real stuff--like last night's baseball scores?; 9/20/12, 8:51 AM
rhhardin said...: The NYT still leads the WSJ in women's pages, but stay tuned.; 9/20/12, 8:51 AM
Darrell said...: I love vulvas. Can't get enough of them! Even when people are saying "vaginas" instead. I long for the time when women used to show them to express a whole range of emotions from gentle flirting to joy to displeasure/taunting. Just like they did with their bare breasts--only more so. I have seen every episode of the various versions of the New Zealand TV series Spartacus over the years, so I stand on very solid ground when I say these things. It's like science. Only less math.; 9/20/12, 8:51 AM
edutcher said...: Man, write about your pussy and the claws really come out.; 9/20/12, 8:52 AM
Ann Althouse said...: NOTE (from the comments instructions): "We also delete some comments that are confusing or cluttering the conversation, such as when the first few comments misunderstand the point of the post."

I had to delete about 6 comments that violated this instruction. You don't have to stay completely on topic, but the first few comments are subject to heightened scrutiny. The topic why isn't this post about something else is always off-topic.; 9/20/12, 8:54 AM
Wally Ballou said...: Sliced bananas are vulval? I think the reporter has more issues than portly pepperpot Naomi. Everybody knows they are symbolic of castration.; 9/20/12, 8:56 AM
clint said...: You must be hungry this morning, Professor. That's two food posts already!; 9/20/12, 8:57 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Oh, well.

edutcher, I'm laughing out loud, guiltily.; 9/20/12, 8:57 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "So how many people really care about what Naomi Woods writes, or what a few other people think about it?"

LOL. You don't even care what her last name is.

This lady has sold a lot of books. She has a " sunny West Village apartment" by getting out books that got attention in their day and she's trying to do it again. Her "Vagina" is getting ravaged by nasty reviews and she's serving cut fruit to a NYT reporter to try to get some good press for the thing. What's interesting here is the neediness of the writer and the meanness of the reporter. It's hilarious, and I'm trying to display that like a sliced banana, but the slicing of bananas may be difficult for you guys to listen to.; 9/20/12, 8:59 AM
Darcy said...: I didn't detect a fat whistle, either. And I'm not a fan, but Ms. Wolf looks really attractive in the pic. If there's a fat whistle, it's probably stemming from jealousy.; 9/20/12, 9:00 AM
Anonymous said...: I think maybe Naomi's vagina is getting old.; 9/20/12, 9:00 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "You must be hungry this morning, Professor. That's two food posts already!"

I've had coffee and cream and eggs and thick-sliced bacon. All very low-carb.; 9/20/12, 9:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Oh now you got me hungry!; 9/20/12, 9:02 AM
KCFleming said...: Navel-gazing is boring enough, but vulva-gazing?

Given the economy, it's all very Weimar-ish.; 9/20/12, 9:04 AM
Paddy O said...: "The topic why isn't this post about something else is always off-topic"

A vicious circle of off-topicness!

Can one off the off-topics without themselves going off topic? Is this comment off topic? Do two off topics make a right topic?

Do vaginas have answers to these pressing questions? Or shall this comment be emasculated as well for not driving home the point of the topic into the depths of the conversation?; 9/20/12, 9:04 AM
edutcher said...: Ann Althouse said...

You must be hungry this morning, Professor. That's two food posts already!

I've had coffee and cream and eggs and thick-sliced bacon. All very low-carb.

But high cholesterol.

Unless you're like The Blonde and have no problem with it, you need to be a little more circumspect.; 9/20/12, 9:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Wow Paddy!; 9/20/12, 9:05 AM
Anonymous said...: Edutcher doesn't embrace low carb, sigh.; 9/20/12, 9:06 AM
MayBee said...: I read that as the knit being loose (loose knit) rather than the tank being loose (loose, knit tank); 9/20/12, 9:06 AM
Bob Ellison said...: edutcher, you are not necessarily what you eat, especially with regard to cholesterol.

Wait; I'm off-topic again...awaiting deletion.; 9/20/12, 9:11 AM
ricpic said...: ...the yellow-painted living room of her sunny West Village apartment.

Paging Edna St. Vincent Millay. Except back in her day there was no West Village, a real estate broker creation, just Greenwich Village. And Edna "My candle burns at both ends" did all the transgressive stuff without resorting to vulgarity to describe it. Now a sophisticate blurts out a naughty word as a mark of liberation.; 9/20/12, 9:15 AM
Michael said...: The only thing tight about the sagging Naomi is her smile. I like that. Way catty.; 9/20/12, 9:18 AM
Darrell said...: Naomi will disappear like the Cheshire Cat. The last thing you will see will be her vulva disappearing into nothingness.

Like Al Gore will, hopefully. Without seeing his junk. Hopefully.; 9/20/12, 9:22 AM
Phil 314 said...: Her "Vagina" is getting ravaged

Call the police.; 9/20/12, 9:23 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Ladies who wear knit tops that reach down to mid-thigh are trying to conceal a fat ass.

We men know this, so it doesn't work. Might as well hang a sign on your ass that reads "I've got a fat ass!"; 9/20/12, 9:25 AM
Darrell said...: She gave "butch" lessons to Al Gore. [Umm. Have you tried NOT shaving your legs?] But disavowed that story after having made the media rounds taking bows for that for couple of years. I now trust her every thought. Time has transpired.; 9/20/12, 9:25 AM
Sorun said...: I've had coffee and cream and eggs and thick-sliced bacon. All very low-carb.

I just made low-carb switch to bacon and eggs. I used to have a banana, OJ, yogurt and toast for breakfast. All bad stuff, apparently.; 9/20/12, 9:26 AM
Sorun said...: At this moment, I'd rather talk about breakfast than vaginas.; 9/20/12, 9:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Nothing wrong with yogurt, especially if it's higher fat variety, Greek for example. Sweeten it with berries or some sort of non sugar sweetener. Very healthy for your gut.; 9/20/12, 9:35 AM
virgil xenophon said...: @PADDY O/

The depth of one's entry into the conversation depends on the turgidity of your prose as you try to ram home the point. But be sure to harden yourself against Ann's rejection if your arguments seem too flaccid. --Remember, just don't let her stiff you when you offer your intellectual services, but rather seduce her with the power of your penetrating observations..; 9/20/12, 9:35 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Triple berry granola from the health food shop in Woodstock with bananas and strawberries, washed down with copious amounts of strong coffee.

Bring it on, suckers!; 9/20/12, 9:37 AM
David said...: Feed that vagina a couple of cheeseburgers. That will satisfy. Yum. Yum.; 9/20/12, 9:41 AM
sakredkow said...: Sounds like Althouse's catty observation rather.; 9/20/12, 9:42 AM
virgil xenophon said...: Chocolate-Mocha Coffee with shot of Barbancourt 5-Star Rum--BREAKFAST of CHAMPIONS unreconstructed Cro-Magnon "old school" style!...lol; 9/20/12, 9:45 AM
Anonymous said...: Chocolate coffee with rum?! Be still my heart!; 9/20/12, 9:49 AM
Anonymous said...: I wonder why they didn't send a man over to Wolf's apartment to talk about her vagina?

Are there such men of courage left at the NY Times?; 9/20/12, 9:58 AM
cubanbob said...: The safest course of action gentlemen is to ignore all vulvas other than the one belonging to one's wife.; 9/20/12, 10:03 AM
shiloh said...: "the first few comments are subject to heightened scrutiny."

ok, now that the coast is clear ...

hmm, several self-righteous, hypocritical con threads re: free speech and an anti-Muslim YouTube video and post deletion at this blog.

Quite the dichotomy!

Re: Naomi as Ann will tell 'ya, It's better to be talked about than not talked about at all. ~ Oscar Wilde

btw, I'm pro Naomi and pro vagina.

Sex, politics and religion ~ Let freedom ring!

>

I'm also pro strawberries and bananas.; 9/20/12, 10:09 AM
Æthelflæd said...: Some men kinda like a fat ass, ST. They cannot lie.; 9/20/12, 10:10 AM
shiloh said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/20/12, 10:12 AM
Darrell said...: Some men kinda like a fat ass, ST. They cannot lie.

Then let me introduce you to William Jefferson Clinton. I know you haven't met.; 9/20/12, 10:12 AM
Paddy O said...: Virgil, thanks for the helpful insights. Very true. And yet, sometimes the threads go on so long it's hard to keep it up.; 9/20/12, 10:13 AM
Æthelflæd said...: This is why I miss so much subtext when talking to other women. I totally missed the cattiness until Ann underlined it. Now I see it, but I would never have caught it myself. Maybe this is why I often prefer talking to men. Maybe it was the pacifier.; 9/20/12, 10:13 AM
Æthelflæd said...: Maybe Sir Mix-a-Lot forgot about Clinton when he wrote that.; 9/20/12, 10:15 AM
Darrell said...: I'm pretty sure that Edna St. Vincent Millay's bottom wick wasn't her vulva/vagina, either. Although those might play a part in living one's life to the fullest.; 9/20/12, 10:21 AM
virgil xenophon said...: @AllieO

Barbancourt is more akin to Cognac--it's double-distilled in copper pots same same Cognac.; 9/20/12, 10:28 AM
furious_a said...: I thought vulvas were built in Sweden.; 9/20/12, 10:32 AM
T J Sawyer said...: It's a nice picture at the top of the linked article. Reminds me of Monica Lewinsky.

Hope Monica is not too off-topic when we are discussing things that are "vulval."; 9/20/12, 10:32 AM
furious_a said...: Given the topic is vulvas, I'm a little uncomfortable with the image of "sliced bananas".; 9/20/12, 10:37 AM
Chip S. said...: I didn't need to decode "flowing black wrap" to know Naomi's fat. I just needed to click through to page 2.; 9/20/12, 10:38 AM
Mary Beth said...: She wrote that when she arrived, guests were shaping homemade pasta dough into vulvas. Sausages sizzled on the stove, salmon fillets graced a platter. Her “depression that a friend would think this was funny,” Ms. Wolf wrote, rendered her unable to “type a word of the book — not even research notes for six months.”

I don't see what's depressing about this, I think it's funny. On the other hand, I can't imaging writing about my boyfriend's "skill to deliver orgasms that make the leaves outside her bedroom at her upstate home glow in “Wizard of Oz” Technicolor" anywhere where my children or anyone who knows them can read it. It could be that I'm just backwards but I don't think children want to know that about their parents, even if they are objectively happy that the parent has a happy sex life.; 9/20/12, 10:38 AM
David said...: chrisnavin.com said...
I wonder why they didn't send a man over to Wolf's apartment to talk about her vagina?

Too much opportunity to be interesting?

Where is Art Buchwald when we really need him?

Or Hitchens? Oh, that would be fun.; 9/20/12, 10:46 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: Q: How many feminists does it take to screw [] Wolf's "Vagina"?

A: That's not funny!; 9/20/12, 10:53 AM
paul a'barge said...: Look at Naomi's picture. She's not fat. Use images.google.com to look at Lauren Sandler. She's not fat either.

If we're going to have a discussion about vulvas and vaginas and stuff, let's talk about that.

How many women don't even know what their vulva looks like, underneath all that nasty hair and rolls of flesh and heavy thighs and all.

Men who demand that their women shave their vaginas have done more for women's liberation than any feminist in history.; 9/20/12, 10:56 AM
SteveR said...: In spite of all the obvious reasons I might have to dislike her, sexuality is not one of the. Hers or mine.; 9/20/12, 10:58 AM
Anonymous said...: Virgil, mmmmmm, breakfast of champions indeed!; 9/20/12, 11:00 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Men who demand that their women shave their vaginas have done more for women's liberation than any feminist in history.

They're certainly done a lot for porn!

I like some hair. The women are shaving without any encouragement from me.; 9/20/12, 11:03 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Virgil, mmmmmm, breakfast of champions indeed!

If you're talking about vaginas, Allie, I'm with you on that one.; 9/20/12, 11:04 AM
jungatheart said...: "...this year State Representative Lisa Brown, a Democrat, was censored for saying “vagina” in the Michigan House of Representatives..."

The author should check herself before criticizing her subject.

(vuhhhhgiiiiinuh); 9/20/12, 11:16 AM
Anonymous said...: Shouting Thomas.... Actually no I'm not, but hey whatever rocks your world. I do however like breakfast sausage;); 9/20/12, 11:19 AM
jungatheart said...: Mary Beth, I didn't think it was especially funny, but it was probably well-meaning. What a self-important twit.; 9/20/12, 11:26 AM
SteveR said...: I do however like breakfast sausage;)

Link I presume; 9/20/12, 11:26 AM
Alex said...: God fuck it! I just can't take it anymore. Is saturated fat gonna clog my arteries or not?; 9/20/12, 11:57 AM
Titus said...: She sounds kind of fab.; 9/20/12, 12:18 PM
Darrell said...: Is saturated fat gonna clog my arteries or not?

God won't do it directly. But He should. And don't tell me that you didn't intend to offend anybody by your phrasing. GFY.; 9/20/12, 12:21 PM
ken in tx said...: One of my former students, all grown up now, posted on Facebook the complaint, “Why do girls have to shave anyway?” I responded, “To keep your beard out of my Cheerios.” I got a number of 'likes' for that.; 9/20/12, 1:47 PM
Valentine Smith said...: The thing I don't get is this whole brain-vagina connection. This is a revelation? I mean the equipment isn't exactly the same, but still my pee-pee did my thinking for bloody decades.; 9/20/12, 2:00 PM
Methadras said...: Naomi Wolf. Still a dumb cunt.; 9/20/12, 2:42 PM
Strelnikov said...: "A tight smile"? Which set of lips?; 9/20/12, 2:56 PM