The Death of Andrea Dworkin

Much of the feminist blogosphere sounds about the same when talking about Dworkin -- except my comments, of course. Here's what the feminist 'phere has to say about Andrea Dworkin and her death:

It's all over the feminist blogs but nowhere does Google News even seem to acknowledge the death of Andrea Dworkin. The death of a controversial person doesn't usually merit silence, even in the mainstream press.

Andrea Dworkin has recently passed away (b. 1946-2005). Farewell Andrea. You inspired this young woman and others to question and protest sexist social-gender roles/constructions, male privileges, systematic discrimination and oppression, misogynist stereotypes, homophobia, racism, and patriarchal institutions. To fight and change a culture that glorifies rape and the pornographic hypersexualization of women and even girls.

This is strange. I first read over at Trish's that Andrea Dworkin had passed away. Someone had emailed to tell her. After doing some digging, I found a thread at The Margins and I notice that her Wikipedia entry contains her date of death.

If you're a young woman who has the right to vote and be on birth control and receive equal pay for equal work and divorce your husband and choose what happens to your own womb, maybe today you could remember that those things are due to crazy bitches like Andrea Dworkin.

Dworkin's work has been grossly misrepresented in the public imagination (what feminist hasn't?), as many folks have pointed out; even so, agree or disagree, her work was very important, and it's important to note her passing.

Much of Dworkin's writing ignored the fact that many people need to participate in sexual activity that includes power play in order to be sexually fulfilled. I think that's what annoys me the most about her work. For those people who willingly submit to power exchanges in their relationships, Dworkin relegates their relationships to stereotypical abuse situations. It's that old school feminist bullshit that just grates my nerves because everything can't be about abuse and women aren't always victims.

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