Meditations on last month's discourse surrounding Vincenzo Barney's Vanity Fair article detailing the illicit relationship between Cormac McCarthy and his "muse," Augusta Britt.
"Debatably the greatest American novelist of the past half-century transgressed one of, if not the most, socially taboo moral frameworks."
But is it, really? There are only 11 states in which the age of consent is not 16 or 17 years of age. That doesn't sound like anything near a "most socially taboo moral framework."
There’s a detachment in broad societal perception from the actual social reality. I think regardless of the legality in most states of said types of relationships, the common conception (helped facilitated by the age of consent in California, and the state’s media production) is that it’s 18. We can argue norms are downstream from laws, but the laws here are infrequently understood, and if they are, supplanted by projection from jurisdictions elsewhere. Whether or not this should be the case is up for debate, the case in most other developed countries is very different. But there is a definite stigma here, as evidenced by just how viral Barney’s reporting on McCarthy went.
Yeah, he poked the beehive, but I guess my perspective is that it's more of an online scold community thing than an overall cultural thing. But maybe that's just because i watched Manhattan last week!
Brilliant. You totally get what so many missed. This is her story told the way only a true confidante can tell it.
Beautiful essay.
Such a refreshingly nuanced take. Well said!
"Debatably the greatest American novelist of the past half-century transgressed one of, if not the most, socially taboo moral frameworks."
But is it, really? There are only 11 states in which the age of consent is not 16 or 17 years of age. That doesn't sound like anything near a "most socially taboo moral framework."
There’s a detachment in broad societal perception from the actual social reality. I think regardless of the legality in most states of said types of relationships, the common conception (helped facilitated by the age of consent in California, and the state’s media production) is that it’s 18. We can argue norms are downstream from laws, but the laws here are infrequently understood, and if they are, supplanted by projection from jurisdictions elsewhere. Whether or not this should be the case is up for debate, the case in most other developed countries is very different. But there is a definite stigma here, as evidenced by just how viral Barney’s reporting on McCarthy went.
Loved Sex at Dawn btw
Yeah, he poked the beehive, but I guess my perspective is that it's more of an online scold community thing than an overall cultural thing. But maybe that's just because i watched Manhattan last week!