Abigail Bray: Adopting the Paedophiliac Gaze
All that is stopped, grasped, all that is subjugated […] which is to say all that is taken, caged, is less true. Hélène Cixous
…but the system gave that line a negative value and sent the scapegoat fleeing down it. Deleuze and Guattari – A Thousand Plateaus
I am left puzzled after Abigail Bray commented on my post Colonising Porn. I did a bit more research on her area of expertise and was left even more puzzled. This is someone of intellectual substance. The author of Hélène Cixous: Writing and Sexual Differences, and of several academic papers that reference the writing of Gilles Deleuze and others. She says that her current research interests are ‘Child sexual abuse moral panics, new youth movements, youth cyber activism and protest movements, cultural politics of emotion, tabloid legislation, racism and child abuse moral panics in Australia’. Very impressive. And somewhat similar to my interests. I first read Anti-Oedipus when it was first released; I also have A Thousand Plateaus, and I’m interested in the psychology of moral panics and the politics of child sexual abuse.
The reason I’m puzzled, shocked even, is that despite this very solid theoretical background, Abigail is involved with Melinda Tankard Reist, one of the principle drivers of moral panic in Australia. And although I had read it before, I had momentarily forgotten that Abigail had written on the Bill Henson controversy and that Melinda Tankard Reist had used a quote from that essay extensively – as if it was some definitive academic evidence that Henson was a deviant. I’m puzzled because I just don’t understand how two radically contradictory pieces can be written by the one person: a student of Cixous and Deleuze nonetheless.
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A work in progress – and something completely different. A crime novel about cultural and generational clashes. A series of murders in the Melbourne art world. 
Greenfields Site.
Perhaps before you make sweeping assumptions about people, you might actually read what they say and write. If you had read the books you cite, you might note the correct spelling. Cixous. Writing and Sexual Difference. I would be embarrassed if I made such mistakes in public writing.
It is always good to pay attention to what people say, argue and write, rather than trying to figure out what they are “really” saying underneath it all. That would be profound, such intellectual courtesy of taking people at their word is always profound. And if they laugh at you for doing so, that is their shame not yours.
Yes, Helen you are correct. I got the spelling wrong. And it is an embarrassing mistake. Not sure how I managed that, given that I gave a link to the Amazon site. I will correct it. However, it is a silly typo that does not detract from the substantive argument. If you have a more substantive point to make I welcome it, but I usually find that those who cannot mount a substantive argument resort to pedantry.
Corrected. Interestingly I got the spelling right early on, then adopted the errant spelling. It happens. Thanks for acting as my editor.
If it’s any consolation, Helen Pringle left a comment on my blog a while ago reprimanding me for misspelling Craig Thompson’s name.
Thanks Jennifer. I think most people will understand that Helen comes across as a stern pedant and that people make mistakes. Btw, you neglected to mention you write an excellent blog No Place for Sheep, so I will.