Andrea Dworkin

[firecat]

From an article by Susie Bright about Andrea Dworkin (but not an obituary as someone characterized it; it was written in 2000). I'm not entirely comfortable with the subject and general tone of the article, but this was really well said and is primarily what I have been thinking about since learning that Dworkin has died.

Dworkin, as veteran observers know, is usually depicted as a shrill fatty. It's painful to read mainstream media coverage of her, because they insist that her entire reputation can be distilled to a lack of fashion sense, a fatal lack of "femininity." I don't think there's a female public figure alive who's been more castigated for their looks. It's frightening to consider that, if she was slim and blonde ( like MacKinnon) she would actually be treated in the diminutive; her views would be considered with at least a modicum of respect. But I don't care how loud or fat she is, in fact those are probably two of my favorite things about her, because they express her defiance.

Comments

I don't care about her size

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

But having seen her in a couple of televised debate situations, I think her conversational style was about as useful as John McLaughlin's or any of the other shouting heads on weekend news shows.

She seemed --at least later in her life when I encountered here-- to be more focused on shouting her viewpoint over anyone else's than engaging in a dialogue.