Friday, June 11 was a night to remember for Chris Matthews, the host of CNBC’s Hardball, a weeknight political talk show that airs at 8 p.m.

Matthews, once a presidential speech writer and an assistant to former Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, jabbers away at 1,000 words per second and has an irritating habit of stuffing in the last needling sentence just before the commercial.

But the June 11 program found Matthews nonplused by his second guest of the evening, Germaine Greer, the author of the 1970 bestseller "The Female Eunuch." She was there to tout her most recent book "The Whole Woman" (Knopf. 373 pages. $25).

That’s right: Sheeee’s back! And the interview was a disaster for Matthews, who apparently believed that his feminist guest was going to roll over and play nice when responding to questions that were simply insipid.

Greer rarely looked up at the camera. She seemed to be writing something as she shot back answers that left her host almost speechless — or at least yammering at the reduced rate of 500 words per second.

Matthews remarked that there were, in the news business at least, some women anchorpersons. Greer pooh-poohed that assumption with an air of academic disdain, saying that female anchorpersons were constantly being interrupted by male anchorpersons — at which point Matthews proceeded to interrupt Greer. She simply stared fixedly at the camera — and presumably at her host — with a look that can only be described as contemptuous.

Matthews wanted to know why women hosts were usually on daytime TV and male hosts dominated nighttime TV.

"Well, it depends who’s on the sofa, doesn’t it?" Greer rejoined. And she went on to point out that female hosts are noticeably better looking, younger, and, unfortunately, less authoritative than their male counterparts.

After the commercial break, Matthews tendered a truce, saying "I’m dying here…. I’m trying to keep up with you, Germaine Greer."

But Greer was having none of his toadying. Matthews was the enemy, a representative of the American male establishment and, according to Greer, American males — men in general — are dumb, insensitive lugs obsessed with cutting their lawns and dominating women.

No doubt Matthews expected Greer to defend Bill Clinton who was, he said, elected by women, but she would only concede the Clinton is popular because he’s pro-abortion. "People like Clinton need abortion," she said. "And I’m sick of being grateful for it."

Matthews tried a difference tack, implying that Greer and her ilk are partial to sensitive men, the I-feel-your-pain-type like lip-biting Bill Clinton.

Greer responded that men who say they’re sensitive give her the creeps because "they just end up screwing you just the same."

Finally, Matthews asked what Greer was writing. "I drew a pair of lips," Greer answered. "Why?" Matthews asked as Greer held her drawing up to the camera. "They just wandered out the end of my pen," she said.

By the end of the program, Matthews had crawfished his way into a corner and was attempting to placate Greer. "I’ve never met an Australian I didn’t like," Matthews said, alluding to Greer’s nationality. "Oh, I have," Greer sneered.

The problem was that Matthews gave no signs of having read Greer’s new book; Greer suspected this, and she wasn’t about to brook his brand of American male arrogance.

Certainly he would have profited by reading "The Whole Woman." The book is insightful — dare I say: thought provoking? — and at the very least Matthews would have been prepared for the drubbing Greer administered.

To his credit, Matthews did seem somewhat familiar with "The Female Eunich." He quoted the thesis of the book: "Women have very little idea of how much men hate them."

In "The Whole Woman," Greer expands on that notion: "Some men hate all women all the time; all men hate some women some of the time. I reckon that in the year 2000 more men hate more women more bitterly than in 1970…. On every side we see women troubled, exhausted, mutilated, lonely, guilty, mocked by the headlined success of the few. The reality of women’s lives is work, most of it unpaid and, what is worse, unappreciated. Every day we hear of women abused; every day we hear of new kinds of atrocities perpetrated on the minds and bodies of women; yet every day we are told that there is nothing left to fight for…. The old enemies, undefeated, have devised new strategies; new assailants lie in ambush. We have no choice but to turn and fight."

The world Greer explicates is indeed nightmarish — cultures where norms of behavior include cosmetic surgery, sexual confusion, abortion, genital mutilation — episiotomies, cesarean sections, hysterectomies — cultures where attitudes toward beauty, incest, love, and power are controlled by male fantasies.

Greer left Matthews smarting, and "The Whole Woman" will probably have readers taking stock of male-female relations at the end of the century.

If you aren’t ready to make a $25 commitment for the book, you can buy the Hardball video and observe Greer’s philosophy in action. As dog and pony shows go, it’s a good one, even if it’s difficult to figure who’s the dog and who’s the pony.

Stephen Smith is a professor at Sandhills Community College.