Andrea Dworkin

Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist and writer. She was best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued led to rape and other forms of violence against women.

Ideas and controversy

Over the course of her life, Dworkin authored numerous books, articles and speeches, in which she was highly critical of pornography and prostitution, but also dealt with sexuality extensively. As an example of her views on the taboo of incest, from Woman Hating: "The parent-child relationship is primarily erotic because all human relationships are primarily erotic. ... The destruction of the incest taboo is essential to the development of cooperative human community based on the free-flow of natural androgynous eroticism."

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Dworkin linked sexual issues to the larger structures in society. She wrote about the class perspective on feminism, in books such as Right-Wing Women. She denounced the tendency of middle-class and affluent "liberal feminists" to make deals with the establishment that advanced their own situation but left less fortunate women out in the cold.

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Dworkin has been incorrectly attributed with the quote "all sex is rape" or "all men are rapists". She has offered this explanation: "Penetrative intercourse is, by its nature, violent. But I'm not saying that sex must be rape. What I think is that sex must not put women in a subordinate position. It must be reciprocal and not an act of aggression from a man looking only to satisfy himself. That's my point."

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Dworkin was often attacked on a personal basis, e.g. for her physical appearance and for being lesbian. She believed that pornography was based in male hatred of women, that it was a significant cause of rape and other sexual violence, and that women to whom sexual violence was done had every right to fight back, up to and including lethal forms of self defense. Despite her supposed misandry, she had numerous close male friends, including the writer Michael Moorcock, and her marriage with Stoltenberg. Her criticism of the gender roles, and her belief that it would have to be eliminated for society to achieve full equality, has also been adduced as a defense against charges of "hating men". Even within the context of her works, in contrast to the author Valerie Solanas, she did not call out for an abolition of men.

Related Topics:
Lesbian - Self defense - Misandry - Michael Moorcock - Gender - Valerie Solanas

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