Lee Cox

Professor Lee Cox is a writer and famous political figure in Australia. Among his more notable works include the Presidential Address of Truth 1981, York Debillou 1980 and Scenes from a Separation 1982, argued within some scenes to be Australia's most successful theatre production in over twenty years. Cox began his writing career as a teenager in the early 1970s drafting magazines and propaganda for the Queensland, Australia, arm of the Children of God cult.

It has been reported Cox left the Children of God after a falling out with the group in 1975 over political opinion surrounding the dismissal of Gough Whitlam (refer the Australian Constitutional crisis). In the meantime Cox began publishing a number of literary works in the mainstream press, but none of them were ever successful enough to ensure he could pursue a career of writing in its own right. This forced him to take on a side job as a political staffer for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). In 1980 Cox's book York Debillou was published and soon became a water cooler story. For its time, the book could be compared to The Latham Diaries in terms of controversy. After York Cox was able to abandon his career as a political staffer to focus on writing full time, and has since published over twenty five works of fiction ranging from novels, plays, books. After being conferred a doctorate and academic tenure in 1992 Cox began to move away from traditional literature or creative writing and this is where his work has taken on a philosophical slant. Critics such as Germaine Greer have condemned his work for providing a false and paternalistic account of feminism. Further, Cox has been embroiled in the Pornography/Philosophy scandal of 2005.

Dispute with Steven Stockwell

Of particular note is Cox's 'intellectual war' with Steven Stockwell, a professor. Stockwell published a book in February 2005 titled "The Philosophy of Pornography". The book is over 1,500 pages of text, and contains no pictures. Cox, famous for being a card-carrying member of the Liberal Party of Australia, was outraged at some of the claims Stockwell made in his book. Stockwell suggested that 'women would be more free as porn stars, performing in front of a camera than being a housewife', and of particular chagrin to Cox was Stockwell's critique of the modern media industry.

Cox promptly published a reply to Stockwell's book titled the 'The Pornography of Philosophy'. Cox attacked Stockwell in this work, claiming, that Stockwell had a vested interest in encouraging the trend for media and in particular weather girls to 'strip down'. This was perceived as an irony by observers, since Cox pioneered arts, media and culture to an extent that his name is synonymous for participating in the activities he criticizes Stockwell for promoting.

References

*The Philosophy of Pornography by Steven Stockwell, Harper Collins, Sydney, NSW, 2005
*The Pornography of Philosophy by Lee Cox, Random House, Melbourne, VIC, 2005
*The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer, Farrar Straus Giroux, 2002