Talk to the sock puppet

The unclever and unethical Lee Siegel, whose sock-puppetry on his own comment threads got him suspended from The New Republic, has acquired a gig at the NYRB, attesting to its declining standards.

In the linked post, his thesis is that Marilyn Monroe's sexuality is some sort of secret that's been covered up. No, not like "she's a lesbian" sexuality; I mean as in being sexy, liking sex, etc. No really, that's his point. Yes, that Marilyn Monroe.

For fun, you can look at the comments and try to guess which Siegel posted himself. "A truly fascinating piece. Thought provoking and unexpected in many ways"? But probably not this one: "Wow. Lee Siegel, the first writer to notice that Marilyn Monroe was sexy."

(My comment drawing readers' attention to the Reason story linked above did not meet the high standards set by the NYRB's moderator.)

... I'd forgotten this great ObWi post by Hilzoy, which casts some light on Siegel's erotic daydreaming about Monroe: a relatively healthy obsession, by comparison.