The Paglias of the country want to take responsibility for their own actions and face their own consequences on their own terms, while the Steinems want Big Brother to make everyone play nice.
Maybe I was a little harsh on Paglia (although NO one wants see themselves pyschoanlysed in public); but you know, I think she and Andrew often take their versioning of 'individual responsibility' so far that it borders on a lead-in to fascism.
Attitudes toward women needed to change, in the past (and to some unmeasured extent, currently). Some people believe that those changes involve invoking the collective ability to act, just as one might with any law.
In case AS is reading, here is proof that even folks like me can laugh at ourselves - we need more of that on both sides. This still brings tears to my eyes:
