Pornography: Men Possessing Women

by Andrea Dworkin

Overview

Andrea Dworkin’s 1981 critique of pornography is an important and urgent document about how the culture consumes and manipulates images of women. Essential and discomfiting reading in a social media era, where women’s bodies are being commodified and displayed more than ever.

Andrea Dworkin’s seminal 1981 work on the issue of pornography argues that the industry serves only to harm and oppress women. Her discussion of pornography as an outgrowth of the power that men exert over women—the power of owning, the power of money, and the power of sex, among others—still blazes with its clarity and immediacy, and illustrates how these inequities, while displayed in raw form in pornography, are endemic in all media.

With a lively and deeply compelling voice, Andrea Dworkin succinctly outlines her anti-pornography stance. Though the media environment may have changed, this passionately and powerfully argued classic remains a relevant and crucial contribution to the area of feminist studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250359254
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	02/25/2025
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	520,496
Product dimensions:	5.38(w) x 8.25(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Andrea Dworkin (1946–2005) was a radical American feminist activist and writer. She is the author of twelve books, including Pornography, Right-Wing Women, Woman Hating, Intercourse, and more.

Editorial Reviews

This strongly argued feminist case against pornography stirred tremendous controversy when first published in 1979, and has lost none of its bite during its several years out of print. Dworkin ( Letters from a War Zone ), who lobbies for municipal statutes declaring pornography a violation of women's civil rights, insists that pornography links sex and violence by incorporating violent domination of women as a key element of sexual fantasy: ``Force in high-class pornography is romanticized . . . as if it were dance.'' Dworkin also takes what many consider to be an extreme position; she believes that pornography incites men to sexual violence. To support her thesis, she draws parallels between the life and writings of the Marquis de Sade and provides critical summaries of several contemporary pornographic works. Dworkin's style is intense, vivid and eloquent, infused with a sense of urgency. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly