A brief encounter with my favourite feminist

Germaine Greer, Edinburgh 2007

A version of this post appeared in The Dialectic in March 2023 as part of the Mixed Media series.

Germaine Greer circa 1975. SEARCH Foundation & State Library of New South Wales, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

IN THE unlikely event that I were ever to bump into feminist trailblazer Germaine Greer, I would have to ask her a question that I have been pondering for years. This would be after I had been roused from a deep swoon with restorative slaps to the cheeks administered by some passing Samaritan, who would then pat my hand and lead me tottering to the nearest bench to compose myself. If, on witnessing this hysterical sideshow the eminent Dr G did not turn on her heel in disgust, exasperated by my tiresome display of abject fandom, I would ask her this:

“Were you in Edinburgh in September 2007 to see the William Blake exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery?”

I realise that it’s now a very long time ago, and Germaine Greer has led a very full life so she probably wouldn’t remember, but I haven’t led that full a life, and I do.