>I always thought Dworkin was a secret
>pornographer.
Dworkin's novels, notably _Ice and Fire_, have a fair amount of sexual
content; much of it is grisly, and not consciously intended to arouse
(if there is a "secret pornographer" in Dworkin, it's on the flipside
of conscious intention), but there is also a vein of celebration of
(possibly somewhat idealized) lesbian sexuality running through them
too.
Susie Bright once said something she evidently thought was very smart
about Dworkin's _Pornography_ - that it was itself a taboo-busting
introduction to the subject, from which "pro-sex" activists like
herself could benefit if they chose to overlook its censorious
commentary. Bright expressed gratitude to Dworkin for what she'd been
able to learn by wilfully misreading her. When they weren't demonizing
Dworkin, the pro-sex faction generally patronized her: *when* was she
going to get over that whole rape-and-moider thing and learn to enjoy
the high art and romance of sexualized inequality?
There was an interview with Sheila Jeffreys, a very old-school lesbian
separatist, in the Grauniad on Saturday:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1517977,00.html
I think Jeffreys lapsed into authoritarianism because she saw no other
way to correct injustices resulting from a misuse of freedom; or more
precisely because she couldn't accept the traditional compromises.
Jeffreys' final orientation is, like Dworkin's, towards a free,
innocent and equal sexuality to come: that was what they both started
out believing in, before they were radicalised by certain cruel and -
it must be said - entirely predictable disappointments.
Dominic
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