The traditional snowman, in fact, is free of sexual characteristics: he doesn't have snow-breasts, but nor does he have a snow-codpiece. You could change him into a snow-woman just by sticking a different hat on him. The whole theory, in short, is baloney. I could easily formulate an opposing theory: that the snowman symbolises female oppression of men. There he stands, permanently exiled from domestic cheer, a disintegrating male guardian-figure condemned to melt into a futile pool of water. This theory is also baloney, because - like Dr Cusack's - it is based on nothing more than fanciful interpretation.
There is nothing wrong with baloney theories: they add to our amusement. What is wrong is the pretence that such theories deserve the intellectual respect which is due to genuine academic research and original thought. That pretence now abounds in British universities. Dr Cusack's work is no more risible than that of many other academics: it has simply received more publicity.
Thousands of students across Britain now leave home to knuckle down to university degrees in "media studies" or "popular culture", in the course of which they may "deconstruct" subjects such as skateboarding, fetishism, Arnold Schwarznegger films and the Teletubbies. It is possible that some of these degrees are intellectually rigorous, presided over by paragons of academic discipline, but - judging from the quality of work which they produce - it is obvious that a substantial number are not.
