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A review by lattelibrarian
Intercourse by Andrea Dworkin
5.0
Wow, this book opens up with a hell of a statement: all heterosexual intercourse is rape. At first I was like, huh, that seems a little overkill, even I wouldn't go that far. But then Andrea Dworkin deconstructs biology, the concept of consent, porn, politics, power over the course of multiple essays. Can we really consent to something that we've been groomed for our entire lives? Can we ever consent when biologically, it is the man who has consistently had the power, when it is the man who dominates our lives both domestically, socially, and politically?
When sex is based on inequality, it sometimes becomes difficult to question longlasting traditions of intercourse, dating, and marriage. When is sex expected and why? Are women ever truly okay with it? Would we still be okay with it if not for the ways in which we'd been raised?
And men, the perpetrators, even regardless of how violent and manipulative they are, have no worries with their position as powerful in the office, home, street, or bedroom. In fact, they're so powerful that they dominate the notions of what women should look like, how they should act, how they should perform in bed an leading up to it. And when anything can be construed as potentially sexy or attractive, aren't all women just asking for it? Even when they are? And if this is the case, how can anything be consensual, and how can anything not be considered rape?
Overall, this is a powerful book that asks and demands answers to difficult questions even today's leading feminist scholars are unwilling to ask in the light of the sex positivity movement. This, in my opinion, is a necessary read, and one that should be required for all feminists.
Review cross-listed here!
When sex is based on inequality, it sometimes becomes difficult to question longlasting traditions of intercourse, dating, and marriage. When is sex expected and why? Are women ever truly okay with it? Would we still be okay with it if not for the ways in which we'd been raised?
And men, the perpetrators, even regardless of how violent and manipulative they are, have no worries with their position as powerful in the office, home, street, or bedroom. In fact, they're so powerful that they dominate the notions of what women should look like, how they should act, how they should perform in bed an leading up to it. And when anything can be construed as potentially sexy or attractive, aren't all women just asking for it? Even when they are? And if this is the case, how can anything be consensual, and how can anything not be considered rape?
Overall, this is a powerful book that asks and demands answers to difficult questions even today's leading feminist scholars are unwilling to ask in the light of the sex positivity movement. This, in my opinion, is a necessary read, and one that should be required for all feminists.
Review cross-listed here!