Andrea DworkinReseñas

andrea dworkin is mother

The last segment, ‘Antifeminism’, is required reading.

It's not exactly a light and breezy beach read. Dworkin's take on the role of pornography in reinforcing patriarchal power structures is pretty damn heavy, and she doesn't pull any punches when it comes to calling out the violence against women that she sees in porn.

If you're in the mood for some heavy reading and a serious dose of feminist theory, give "Pornography: Men Possessing Women" a shot. But don't say I didn't warn you!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Pornography [also] engenders sex discrimination. By making a public spectacle and a public celebration of the worthlessness of women, by valuing women as sluts, by defining women according to our availability for sexual use, pornography makes all women’s social worthlessness into a public standard. Do you think such a being is likely to become Chairman of the Board? Vice President of the United States? Would you hire a “cunt” to represent you? Perform surgery on you? Run your university? Edit your broadcast? (p.48, emphasis mine)

Worth repeating.

And while we're on the topic ...

Andrea Dworkin addressing an audience of about 500 men …

“…why are you so slow? Why are you so slow to understand the simplest things; not the complicated ideological things. You understand those. The simple things. The
cliches. Simply that women are human to precisely the degree and quality that you are.

“It is an extraordinary thing to try to understand and confront why it is that men believe— and men do believe— that they have the right to rape. Men may not believe it when asked. Everybody raise your hand who believes you have the right to rape. Not too many hands will go up. It’s in life that men believe they have the right to force sex, which they don’t call rape. And it is an extraordinary thing to try to understand that men really believe that they have the right to hit and to hurt. And it is an equally extraordinary thing to try to understand that men really believe that they have the right to buy a woman’s body for the purpose of having sex: that that is a right. And it is very amazing to try to understand that men believe that the seven-billion- dollar-a-year industry that provides men with cunts is something that men have a right to.

“… men come to me or to other feminists and say: “What you’re saying about men isn’t true. It isn’t true of me. I don’t feel that way. I’m opposed to all of this. ”
And I say: don’t tell me. Tell the pornographers. Tell the pimps. Tell the warmakers. Tell the rape apologists and the rape celebrationists and the pro-rape ideologues. Tell the novelists who think that rape is wonderful. Tell Larry Flynt. Tell Hugh Hefner. There’s no point in telling me. I’m only a woman. There’s nothing I can do about it. These men presume to speak for you. They are in the public arena saying
that they represent you. If they don’t, then you had better let them know.

excerpts from “I Want A Twenty-four Hour Truce During Which There Is No Rape”

“Why Pornography Matters to Feminists” from Letters from a War Zone, Andrea Dworkin:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED - Because my god, there’s something placard-worthy in every paragraph!!

Pornography is a n essential issue because pornography says that women want to be hurt, forced, and abused; pornography says women want to be raped, battered, kidnapped, maimed; pornography says women want to be humiliated, shamed, defamed; pornography says that women say No but mean Y e s— Yes to violence, Yes to pain.

Also: pornography says that women are things; pornography says that being used as things fulfills the erotic nature of women; pornography says that women are the things men use.

Also: in pornography women are used as things; in pornography force is used against women; in pornography women are used. Also: pornography says that women are sluts, cunts; pornography says that pornographers define women; pornography says that men
define women; pornography says that women are what men want women to be.

Also: pornography shows women as body parts, as genitals, as vaginal slits, as nipples, as buttocks, as lips, as open wounds, as pieces.

Also: pornography uses real women.

Also: pornography is an industry that buys and sells women.

Also: pornography sets the standard for female sexuality, for female sexual values, for girls growing up, for boys growing up, and increasingly for advertising, films, video, visual arts, fine art and literature, music with words.

Also: the acceptance of pornography means the decline of feminist ethics and an abandonment of feminist politics; the acceptance of pornography means feminists abandon women.

Also: pornography reinforces the Right’s hold on women by making the environment outside the home more dangerous, more threatening; pornography reinforces the husband’s hold on the wife by making the domestic environment more dangerous, more
threatening.

Also: pornography turns women into objects and commodities; pornography perpetuates the object status of women; pornography perpetuates the self-defeating divisions among women by perpetuating the object status of women; pornography perpetuates the
low self-esteem of women by perpetuating the object status of women; pornography perpetuates the distrust of women for women by perpetuating the object status of women; pornography perpetuates the demeaning and degrading of female intelligence and
creativity by perpetuating the object status of women.

Also: pornography is violence against the women used in pornography and pornography encourages and promotes violence against women as a class; pornography dehumanizes the women used in pornography and pornography contributes to and promotes the dehumanization of all women; pornography exploits the women used in pornography and accelerates and promotes the sexual and economic exploitation of women as a class.

Also: pornography is made by men who sanction, use, celebrate, and promote violence against women.

Also: pornography exploits children of both sexes, especially girls, and encourages violence against children, and does violence to children.

Also: pornography uses racism and anti-Semitism to promote sexual arousal; pornography promotes racial hatred by promoting racial degradation as “sexy”; pornography romanticizes the concentration camp and the plantation, the Nazi and the slaveholder;
pornography exploits demeaning racial stereotypes to promote sexual arousal; pornography celebrates racist sexual obsessions.

Also: pornography numbs the conscience, makes one increasingly callous to cruelty, to the infliction of pain, to violence against persons, to the humiliation or degradation of persons, to the abuse of women and children.

Also: pornography gives us no future; pornography robs us of hope as well as dignity; pornography further lessens our human value in the society at large and our human potential in fact; pornography forbids sexual self-determination to women and to children; pornography uses us up and throws us away; pornography annihilates our chance for freedom.

powerfully moving stories.

My first introduction to feminist opposition to pornography. The details and the passion of her work are inspiring and paints a realistic portrait of the harm that pornography does to women and our culture.

very moving and personal account of her life and her struggles. Wonderful and refreshing to read.

The introduction and Chapters 1-3 are some of Dworkin's best and most accessible writing, on a subject that's as urgent today as it was when she wrote this. I think that this was a lot more concrete than what books like Intercourse talk about (though no less or more important!) and so this book has an immediacy to it. Chapters 4-7 of this were way too theoretical for me though, really abstract and kind of hard to understand. Obviously they're conveying really important information but some of it was sort of dense.
As with the other 2 Dworkin books I read I felt like this didn't really challenge me intellectually, because I already agree with what she's saying, so reading this was kind of just alternating between YES! She put it into words! and being abjectly horrified about the crazy shit she deconstructs. So because her writing doesn't challenge someone who's already a radical feminist, I also think this book probably wouldn't do any good at convincing someone who's pro-pornography to change their mind (which is why I originally read it, to have talking points against sex posi third wavers.) Maybe it's a matter of knowing your audience? but it was hard to tell who this book is for.
I still give this book a high rating because of the importance of what she's doing here though. I feel like people know more about what the media said about Dworkin than what she actually wrote in her books... everyone knows her as the mean feminist who wants to ban porn. So when I read the introduction I was surprised at how mild the legislation she was pushing was?? Like, she wasn't trying to ban porn, she was trying to legally define it so that women who have been hurt by the porn industry have legal recourse... It's hard to imagine people opposing that, unless of course they've been fed misogynist propaganda, and well of course they have because everyone has.
Lastly this is so random but Dworkin's wit is soo underrated, her analysis always has an undercurrent of sarcasm especially when exposing the hypocrisy of men. like it's not ha ha funny but really subtle satire

Two biggest takeaways from this book: Compassion and Self-reflection.

Self-reflection is something that the Left lacks and I think it incredibly brave of Dworkin to encourage leftists to engage in self-reflection (or even self-awareness!). Perhaps a better title for this book would be Left Wing Men, because it's important to hear these criticisms coming from a leftist if the Left is to have any lasting power. We need to solve our internal issues of misogyny if we're ever going to confront them in society at large... The fact that there's so much misogyny in the movement is terribly depressing!! I would definitely recommend leftist men to read this & try to learn to do better.

The thing that surprised me in this book was how much compassion Dworkin writes with, about women who would almost definitely disagree with her on every issue. Take a look at this:

"It does mean that the fate of every individual woman - no matter what her politics, character, values, qualities - is tied to the fate of all women whether she likes it or not. On one level, it means that every woman’s fate is tied to the fate of women she dislikes personally. On another level, it means that every woman’s fate is tied to the fate of women whom she politically and morally abhors. For instance, it means that rape jeopardizes communist and fascist women, liberal, conservative, Democratic, or Republican women, racist women and black women, Nazi women and Jewish women, homophobic women and homosexual women."

She obviously doesn't make excuses for right-wing women and the harm they do, but still has enough sympathy for them as victims of a patriarchal system which is a nuance that very few writers these days can manage. I guess the one weakness of this book is that it doesn't provide many solutions making it sort of depressing and hopeless, but the idea of "we're all in this together" (she literally says this I'm not even quoting High School Musical!!) is there.

Anyway after having read four Dworkin books this is the one I would recommend people start with. It's a lot easier to read than the other three I read, because there's no extensive literature reviews, and it's not dense and philosophical, and she incorporates her own personal experiences (in the chapter "Jews and Homosexuals" she talks about the intersection of being a Jewish Lesbian for example). Anyway this book makes me want to become the Joker.

this was better than Intercourse by a lot. A lot more readable and I felt like it made a lot more points cuz it wasn't hidden underneath literary criticism (except the 3 chapters she reviews some porn books). It was gut wrenching and horrible to read and I wish I read it a lot sooner.
I took off a star because the last like, 5 pages of the book are really strange. Like I was vibing the whole time, just nodding to myself, then at the very end she starts talking about how bestiality incest and pedophilia are good?! It was so dumb I took off a whole star but nah the rest of the book was 10/10 and should be required reading. I know she changed her tune on a lot of that stuff later on and this was her first book so I take it all as a product of its time. At least I can't say the book didn't challange me like I did about intercourse LOL.
I'm really sad that this book is so hard to find. I was lucky enough to read a hard copy from my school's library (buying them is like 100 bucks!) and it's really cool to see all the notes in it from women who read it in 1976, it makes me feel like im part of a bigger movement I guess. I wish this was more accessible, I guess it's just been out of print for a while, but it's a shame because I think the world would be a much better place if more people read this book!!

This was truly eye opening, poetic, emotionally difficult to read, I found my self nodding to no one at a lot of the points being made here, Dworkin put a lot in writing that I've been trying to word to myself for ages. That being said I don't think the book really challenged my viewpoint, just sort of reinforced stuff that I already believe, and also I don't think it would be particularly convincing to someone who disagrees with what she's saying. The format of each chapter talking about some literature wasn't my favorite either, I don't really like reading literary criticism especially in Part 1, but all the later chapters were great. I thought the best chapters were: Repulsion, Posession, and all of parts 2 and 3.

Personal experience and self-promotion are not substitutes for rigorous scholarship. I would hate to live in any world set up in a way that would align with Dworkin's expressed goals. I first read this in 1982 when I was in undergrad and recently reread most of it to discuss it with my son, now an undergrad who was reading it for a class. I thought it flimsy and absurd then, and that has not changed.

A lot of this contained in Last Days at Hot Slit, but still a brutal and unflinching looking at women.

Honest and compelling!

Dworkin dissects, with great precision, the roots of male dominance and female subordination. Whether or not you agree with her, you have to admire her courage and passion. She also does a great job of conveying the thinking behind the views of right-wing women and explains why they don't support feminists' struggle for female equality. Her writing is first-class: clear, smart, sophisticated, and above all, honest.

Unfortunately, this book, first published in 1983, has been out of print for some time. I hope the publisher reissues it soon. Dworkin was ahead of her time, and her book has barely aged at all.

Not to be missed.

Dworkin was a gift. Dedicated, full to the brim with compassion, intellectually brave, and in my mind a revolutionary. I loved the way this series of autobiographical essays gave glimpses into her life that really fleshed out who she was and how she got there.

It makes me wish I could have met her. A tantalising glimpse of an incredible woman.

I'd already read Intercourse and a few essays and interviews. I've got most of her books as pdfs but hadn't managed to get them onto my kindle until now. After this one I'm going to try reading the rest chronologically. I feel like this served as a good introduction, giving context to rest of her work.

Incredible, as ever. Definitely one of her key texts. Hard to review for a non-enthusiast, but I'll try at some point (too much travelling to do right now so no time).

This one's a real mixed bag, I thought. Her strengths definitely lie in literary analysis and interesting writing. She's spot on when she talks about witch hunts and foot-binding. What she often excels at is presenting horrific facts in quite a dispassionate fashion, which for me increases their impact.

The "facts" about fairies... well, I'll have to read up on what was accepted at the time, but right now I have no idea where she got that from. I found the second half of the book started to break down a bit with the sections on "androgyny". I'm not entirely sure why she decided to defend bestiality, but it's not a choice I would have made. I wasn't sure about the scientific material she used. I think Disorders of Sexual Development (DSDs) (intersex conditions) are becoming better understood now, and deserve a more rigorous approach and a whole book (to deal with scientific, ethical, social issues and present opposing theories).

This was her first book, so I'm not sure what I was expecting - obviously someone so full of fire would be dynamic and changing during her life. What's interesting about reading her writing chronologically is hopefully I'll see the various changes over time (vs. seeing them in random contradictory excerpts). This is definitely worthwhile in building up a fuller picture of Dworkin, but it's not my favourite work of hers.

read a lot of Dworkin back in the '80s. I even went to see her give a speech. I often haven't agreed with her on many issues, and possibly -- like many -- her complete refusal to compromise or be remotely flexible on anything (hence, the "militant feminist" label) made it harder to be sympathetic, not to mention the questions surrounding some of her personal history claims. But one can't deny she was a powerful, passionate speaker/writer, nor the fact that she made possibly the biggest impact in the greater feminist movement during the 1980s, so while this isn't my favorite text, I do think she's generally worth reading and engaging. I like to be challenged to think...

I get it. Honestly, I do. I've spent half my life around feminists, including some very hard core, man hating ones, most especially prominent in some of my grad school/academia environments. And I've done plenty of volunteer work over many years for feminist and equality organizations. And I also read a lot of Dworkin back in the day. There's little debate she made an impact in the 1980s. But I have often wondered if she were alive to rewrite a new updated version, what would it look like? Because times have changed and things have changed and feminist today are not what they were in the 1970s and 1980s and frankly, a huge percentage of people watching pornography around the world today are women, of their own volition, not at freaking gunpoint! So, would she still be this hard core? Would she still be relevant? Is she effectively a dinosaur, like many of the early ones, per most of today's feminists? She was a product of her times and I think this book, if it was ever good to begin with, no longer contains any relevance it once had. For better or for worse. You decide.

A lot of really fascinating ideas, commentary, and history. The first three parts of the book — on fairy tales, pornography, and footbinding / witch-burning were both gripping and horrifying. I love how clever and perfect Dworkin's prose is; in hardly any words, she is biting and exact. I was not such a fan of the last part of the book, on androgyny, and the pro-heterosexuality, pro-incest, and pro-zoophilia utopia she describes. Interesting thoughts on punctuation in the angry afterword.

Considering how short the book is, it took me a relatively long time to read. Content-wise, brutal but not gratuitously so.

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I loved this. I would have given it five stars apart from the sudden short burst of trans*-hatred at the end of the book. Disappointing.

I do love Dworkin's style, though; her passion and her way with words and her uncompromising attitude. This memoir is a fast read, made up of short snapshots of her life. It's Dworkin, so I wouldn't call it an easy read, given that her work was in confronting horrific abuse of herself and so many others. But it's engaging and wonderful as well as horrible and, yes, heartbreaking.

Dworkin writes with intense passion and surgical precision. Both as a work of feminism and literary criticism Intercourse hits hard.