Andrea Dworkin Quotes

A collection of quotes by Andrea Dworkin.

Andrea Dworkin (1946-2005) was an influential American radical feminist, writer, and activist. Born in Camden, New Jersey, she grew up in a conservative Jewish household and later became an outspoken advocate for women's rights and against pornography.

Dworkin attended Bennington College and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English literature. Her experiences with sexual assault and domestic violence deeply influenced her work and activism. Dworkin published numerous books and essays, focusing on themes such as sexual violence, objectification of women, and gender inequality. She is best known for her books "Woman Hating" (1974), "Our Blood: Prophecies and Discourses on Sexual Politics" (1976), and "Intercourse" (1987).

Throughout her career, Dworkin faced criticism and controversy for her radical views, particularly her assertion that all heterosexual sex is inherently oppressive to women. Her uncompromising stance against pornography and prostitution generated significant debate within both feminist and broader social circles.

Despite facing significant backlash and being often misunderstood, Dworkin played a pivotal role in shaping feminist discourse surrounding pornography, sexual violence, and gender politics. Her work remains influential and continues to spark important conversations about women's rights, sexual consent, and the objectification of women in contemporary society.

Andrea Dworkin passed away on April 9, 2005, leaving behind a legacy as a fearless advocate for women's liberation and challenging the societal norms that perpetuate gender inequality.

The common erotic project of destroying women makes it possi

The common erotic project of destroying women makes it possible for men to unite into a brotherhood; this project is the only firm and trustworthy groundwork for cooperation among males and all male bonding is based on it.

Men who want to support women in our struggle for freedom an

Men who want to support women in our struggle for freedom and justice should understand that it is not terrifically important to us that they learn to cry; it is important to us that they stop the crimes of violence against us.

Feminism is hated because women are hated. Anti-feminism is

Feminism is hated because women are hated. Anti-feminism is a direct expression of misogyny; it is the political defense of women hating.

You think intercourse is a private act it's not, it's a soci

You think intercourse is a private act it's not, it's a social act. Men are sexually predatory in life and women are sexually manipulative. When two individuals come together and leave their gender outside the bedroom door, then they make love.

Women

As long as there is rape... there is not going to be any pea

As long as there is rape... there is not going to be any peace or justice or equality or freedom. You are not going to become what you want to become or who you want to become. You are not going to live in the world you want to live in.

Equality

For a mother the project of raising a boy is the most fulfil

For a mother the project of raising a boy is the most fulfilling project she can hope for. She can watch him, as a child, play the games she was not allowed to play; she can invest in him her ideas, aspirations, ambitions, and values -- or whatever she has left of them; she can watch her son, who came from her flesh and whose life was sustained by her work and devotion, embody her in the world. So while the project of raising a boy is fraught with ambivalence and leads inevitably to bitterness, it is the only project that allows a woman to be -- to be through her son, to live through her son.

Family

The genius of any slave system is found in the dynamics whic

The genius of any slave system is found in the dynamics which isolate slaves from each other, obscure the reality of a common condition, and make united rebellion against the oppressor inconceivable.

Slavery

No woman needs intercourse; few women escape it.

No woman needs intercourse; few women escape it.

Sex

The argument between wives and whores is an old one; each on

The argument between wives and whores is an old one; each one thinking that whatever she is, at least she is not the other.

Marriage

Men renounce whatever they have in common with women so as t

Men renounce whatever they have in common with women so as to experience no commonality with women; and what is left, according to men, is one piece of flesh a few inches long, the penis. The penis is sensate; the penis is the man; the man is human; the penis signifies humanity.

Man Mankind

Men are rewarded for learning the practice of violence in vi

Men are rewarded for learning the practice of violence in virtually any sphere of activity by money, admiration, recognition, respect, and the genuflection of others honoring their sacred and proven masculinity. In male culture, police are heroic and so are outlaws; males who enforce standards are heroic and so are those who violate them.

Violence

Woman is not born: she is made. In the making, her humanity

Woman is not born: she is made. In the making, her humanity is destroyed. She becomes symbol of this, symbol of that: mother of the earth, slut of the universe; but she never becomes herself because it is forbidden for her to do so.

Women

Childbearing is glorified in part because women die from it.

Childbearing is glorified in part because women die from it.

Birth

All personal, psychological, social, and institutionalized d

All personal, psychological, social, and institutionalized domination on this earth can be traced back to its source: the phallic identities of men.

Power

Seduction is often difficult to distinguish from rape. In se

Seduction is often difficult to distinguish from rape. In seduction, the rapist often bothers to buy a bottle of wine.

Seduction

Sexism is the foundation on which all tyranny is built. Ever

Sexism is the foundation on which all tyranny is built. Every social form of hierarchy and abuse is modeled on male-over-female domination.

Sex

Romantic love, in pornography as in life, is the mythic cele

Romantic love, in pornography as in life, is the mythic celebration of female negation. For a woman, love is defined as her willingness to submit to her own annihilation. The proof of love is that she is willing to be destroyed by the one whom she loves, for his sake. For the woman, love is always self-sacrifice, the sacrifice of identity, will, and bodily integrity, in order to fulfill and redeem the masculinity of her lover.

Love

Being a Jew, one learns to believe in the reality of cruelty

Being a Jew, one learns to believe in the reality of cruelty and one learns to recognize indifference to human suffering as a fact.

Religion

Marriage as an institution developed from rape as a practice

Marriage as an institution developed from rape as a practice. Rape, originally defined as abduction, became marriage by capture. Marriage meant the taking was to extend in time, to be not only use of but possession of, or ownership.

Marriage

Only when manhood is dead -- and it will perish when ravaged

Only when manhood is dead -- and it will perish when ravaged femininity no longer sustains it -- only then will we know what it is to be free.

Men