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!! ( )

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

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. ( )

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.

A collection of short essays analyzing global patriarchal culture (from fairy tales to "witch" burnings to foot binding etc), showing how mysogyny is both implicated in and serves to re-enforce sex segregation and male supremacy.

Highly recommended. ( )