April 12, 2005

Dworkin Dead

Radical feminist Andrea Dworkin, who agitated for years to ban pornography and also condemned sexual intercourse as "is the pure, sterile, formal expression of men's contempt for women,” has died at the age of 58. As she was a long-term foe of two things I’ve long held near and dear- free expression and sex- I can’t say Dworkin’s death is the most upsetting of the year for me, or even of the week. In fact, I’m probably more upset by the realization that her cohort, Catherine MacKinnon, is still alive.

Here’s Jonah Goldberg on going to see a Dworkin speech when he was an undergraduate at Goucher:

She was unpleasant. Her talk was quite thoroughly anti-male. She was clearly playing to the audience and she left a poor impression on me. As did her writing. And, most of all, her effect on many of the young women I went to school with and some of the teachers I learned from was anything but admirable or edifying.
In other words, it’s all Andrea’s fault that Jonah never got laid in college.

Hit and Run has more commentary; let's just say this is an issue where I agree with the libertarians more than on most others. Much like Israel-bashing, porn prohibition was always one of those things where the far right and far left were almost always in agreement, and almost always wrong.

The “indecency” craze notwithstanding, I’d say the porn wars are officially over, and Dworkin’s side (on which she was aligned with the likes of Jerry Falwell) lost, big time. Want more proof? Legendary pornographer Al Goldstein is back in the game, hired as director of marketing for a new online porn-on-demand service. Check out the attendant press release, for a detailed bio of the Screw Magazine founder- and his e-mail address!

UPDATE: Perhaps "officially over" was too strong a term:

April 13, 2005 -- The city can give the boot-y to dozens of jiggle joints, including famed flesh emporium Scores, an appeals court ruled yesterday.
In a unanimous decision, the state Appellate Division found the city's strict new zoning regulations against adult establishments is constitutional, paving the way for the city to shutter more than 100 strip clubs, peep shows and adult theaters and video stores.
This play, which mentions Dworkin by name, just got a lot more relevant.

Posted by Stephen Silver at April 12, 2005 09:00 PM
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