As an aside, I nearly wrote RIP after her name which brings to mind the strange emptiness of what must have been a truly heartfelt tribute at a local high school. Recently a member of one of the school's sports teams died (cause unknown to me). The students filled the chain link fences around the school with styrofoam cups arranged to spell out phrases like RIP #64 and You Will Be Missed. Real and plastic flowers were piled on the ground in front of the make-shift effigy. Apparently even grief is awkward at that age. Perhaps it always is.
Andrew Dworkin died Saturday - at only 58. A crusader against pornography and (other, she might say,) violence against women. As a feminist and a writer, she was concerned with neither conflict or risk.
Her work was something of a lightening rod for the debate on pornography and censorship that raged through the 1980s and remains contentious on university campuses. A battered wife herself, Dworkin indicted pornography as an incitement to violence against women and dangerous hate speech that affected individual and group perceptions about women.
In her first of many books, "Woman Hating", Dworkin took on the battle against men's historical domination of women. She was even critical of consensual sex between women and men, which she saw as an act of everyday subjugation in which women were accomplices.
Dworkin was often dismissed by critics for her ranting and diatribes, but within the feminist community, she ignited fierce discussion and debate about the issues that will continue to frame politics for decades. It could be fairly said that she was the feminist's O'Reilly. But, somehow those screaming radicals are much more appealing when they're on your side.
Rest in peace, Ms. Dworkin.
Dworkin's work was obviously not for anyone with normal, sexual feelings. My first orientation to her work came, not surprisingly in a women's studies course. I believe that the quote was taken from an interview with a Rolling Stone reporter, in which she stated "romance is rape embellished with meaningful looks." Not exactly the kind of person you want offering a toast at your wedding. Didn't she kill Shakespeare just before her celebrity death bout with Dr. Ruth?
Posted by: Jim T. | April 17, 2005 at 10:36 PM
I admit, I never knew who this woman was, but all I have to say about feminism as a whole is that I think it has been hijacked by the radical leftwing and it seems to sort of hinge on one last strand... "abortion".
It seems that's all they are 'fighting for' these days is the right to have an abortion. That's the entire feminist movement these days. It's just tragic.
Billy
Posted by: BillyKess | April 19, 2005 at 03:10 PM