Camille A. Paglia

Camille A. Paglia explores what she calls the "Androgyny of Manners." With this quote she states the main point, or focus of her entire essay, "The salon is an abstract circle in which male and female, like mathematical ciphers, are equal and interchangeable…" She hints that Christianity did not destroy paganism but rather drove it into the underground of Western culture. It later emerged in the Renaissance art , Romantism period of Europe, and modern Hollywood culture. According to Paglia, the major patterns of consistency in western culture usually find their origin in paganism, which, continues to flourish in art, eroticism, astrology, and modern culture. She discusses the concept of androgyny of Oscar Wilde and the theme that’s present throughout The Importance of Being Earnest; the men have female like qualities and the women have male like qualities.