Stanford University sparked backlash after hosting a professional dominatrix and self-described “silly bimbo” to its lecture students.
The elite university’s Structured Liberal Education (SLE) hosted dominatrix and author Brittany Newell as a guest speaker last week — a move that “divided students, with one questioning how her “expertise in dominating men” is relevant, according to a report by the Stanford Review.
“Does SLE mean to tell 18-year-olds that profiting off of others’ vulnerabilities and shame is preferable to working 50-hour weeks at a big company?” the student newspaper questioned.
“Is it okay with the idea that men should pay for expensive, temporary ‘intimacy’ instead of trying to address the root cause of their problems with a licensed therapist? Or, more broadly, is the solution to depression simply giving in by appeasing desire through drugs, fantasy, and sex?” the opinion piece added.
Newell — who is also a self-proclaimed “silly bimbo” — reportedly “advised” students based on her “wide-ranging life as a drag performer, kink worker, journalist, and archivist of San Francisco’s queer sexual community.”
Some students who attended the lecture also received a free copy of the dominatrix ‘s latest book, Soft Core, which describes a woman’s sex “adventures” with her cross-dressing ketamine dealer ex-boyfriend — and other men.
Conversely, the SLE program — which claims to provide students with a Western-based education for a good life — requires students to read Meditations by 2nd century Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, The Eternal City’s most famous philosopher-leader.
“What does SLE materially gain from hosting her? Even if she has unconventional interests, is she at least a fabulous writer? Does she explore the topic in a novel, interesting way?” the Stanford Review inquired, before asserting that Newell “is not an amazing writer.”
“In short, I struggle to see how Newell’s expertise in dominating men — and not the pen — is relevant to SLE and its purported goals,” the student newspaper added.
“SLE is a respectable program with noble aims, and it has the right to choose which speakers it wishes to platform. I believe it should, and can, do better,” the opinion piece concluded.
Alana Mastrangelo-Wrask is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.