It was scary how similar the two writings were in their interpretation of the basic dynamics in a relationship. Whatever the woman wants, better house, nicer clothes, etc., Schlafly recommended using sex to get it from her husband. Then we read the Schlafly piece, in which she was arguing that women hold the real power in a 'traditional' marriage, because they can withold sex from their husbands. Dworkin's writing was arguing that marriage was nothing but legalized prostitution, where the man got sex in return for housing, feeding and clothing the woman. One of the most interesting moments in my college career was being assigned writings by Dworkin and Phyllis Schlafly, high priestess of the social conservative movement, in a course on changing gender roles for men and women in society. Dare I say it? Was Andrea Dworkin the Ann Coulter of feminism?' As much as I loathe Ann Coulter, I dare say Dworkin was far worse. Sycophantic followers declaring this lunacy to be some sort of rare and insightful genius. One of the commenters in that thread brilliantly observed, 'Crazy rhetoric couched as some sort of genius vision. Insane enough to be picked up by the religious right, who are every bit as devoted to the demonization and elimination of human sexual freedom as Dworkin was. Dworkin's ideas were not merely a bit too strident, they were downright insane.

In her Times op-ed, MacKinnon complains that Dworkin's brilliant ideas have been 'marginalized.' Clearly, they haven't been marginalized enough and that's bad news for women, men, and feminism. (Among other things, she described the Caesarian section as 'a surgical fuck' by 'the new rapist, the surgeon.') So why the praise? Is this really little more than slightly over-the-top rhetoric in defense of the oppressed? Is challenging the very existence of sexual intercourse really a wonderfully bold and provocative idea, as even pro-sex feminist and frequent Dworkin target Susie Bright seems to think? Why the lack of stigma against anti-male bigotry? It's sadly obvious that this supposedly bold and visionary prophet was, in actuality, insane. Cathy Young has an excellent post on Reason's Hit and Run about the fawning obituaries given in the last week for Andrea Dworkin, the anti-sex feminist.

Right wing women dworkin