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Letters from a War Zone
by
Reflections on writing and writers, freedom of speech and censorship, pornography, violence against women, and the politics of our time.
Paperback, 337 pages
Published
May 28th 1993
by Lawrence Hill Books
(first published 1989)
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Showing 1-30
Warning, this review is kind of gushy.
I want to give this book to all the trend-riding liberal feminists. You know, the ones who share articles on Facebook about how progressive Disney movies are, who make cute glittery "misandry" graphics, who say they're gonna "dismantle the patriarchy" with their sexy high heeled shoes and lipstick. As it's a collection of Dworkin's speeches and articles over the years, there is repetition, but not by any means to an irritating degree. In fact, we need to he ...more
I want to give this book to all the trend-riding liberal feminists. You know, the ones who share articles on Facebook about how progressive Disney movies are, who make cute glittery "misandry" graphics, who say they're gonna "dismantle the patriarchy" with their sexy high heeled shoes and lipstick. As it's a collection of Dworkin's speeches and articles over the years, there is repetition, but not by any means to an irritating degree. In fact, we need to he ...more
A touching, beautiful, inspiring, and sometimes heartbreaking collection of essays and speeches by one of the greatest women to have ever lived.
Women the world over miss you, Andrea. Thank you for speaking up for us so beautifully and so unequivocally when the rest of the world spat us out and left us to rot.
Women the world over miss you, Andrea. Thank you for speaking up for us so beautifully and so unequivocally when the rest of the world spat us out and left us to rot.
This was so bloody fucking hard to read, as all Dworkin's work is because how true it is. Her words are raw ; no-nonsense ; straughtforward and that is why we continue to devour her words, despite or perhaps because of how much it hurts. It's like exorcizing a cyst - ridding ourselves of the pus so that we can (finally) begin to heal.
This is an excellent collection of essays that I would recommend to any feminist--especially those who dismiss the second wave. If anything, things have gotten worse since Dworkin was writing these essays. A depressing, inspiring collection.
Even though the x-rating is in an obsolete rating system today, the book could not be any more relevant. The speeches are captivating, and the source of oppression (unfortunately) are still quite similar. I highly recommend it.
Made me think and generally reconsider my position on pornography. I'm half glad she didn't have to live to see the most horrid, degrading kinds of pornography so easily accessible to practically everyone in the world.
Is there any way to give a book more than 5 stars? This is as brilliant and moving as any of what Andrea Dwokin brings to the written text. Just an awesome collection of essays!
Okay, I confess that I couldn't even read this book past the second or third essay, the one for the Take Back the Night march. As soon as I read the sentence, "Men fuck their wives in the dark," (as if that, too, was a crime alone the lines of the actual crimes like rape and robbery mentioned in that paragraph) I was done. I usually enjoy feminist writers, but maybe Andrea Dworkin is too dated for me. She sounds exactly like the "right-wing women" she decries in one of her other books- completel
...more
A collection of powerful, heartbreaking and inspiring essays, essays which really analyse oppression and gave me new insights. I'm a firm believer that whilst feminist theory is very important, you can and should be able to explain it without a pile of jargon, so I appreciated her straightforward style of writing. A painful read, but as she herself says, "One of the things the women's movement does is to make you feel pain". If I could give 6 stars, I would.
i think this contains dworkin's best and most concise essays with all her seriousness, love, and humour.
Awesome!
I don't entirely agree with her view on life. But her talent and discipline as a writer is undeniable.
I find it so very hard to rate or review this book. First, because it's made up of essays, and some of them are truly brilliant, while others seem, to me, a bit repetitive. But also because this isn't some novel whose character I can love or hate - this is something too real, and the good parts hurt in a way no novel ever could.
So, in just a few words: Dworkin's writing is very straightforward, which is truly a relief if you've ever had to read anything approaching academic articles. It ...more
So, in just a few words: Dworkin's writing is very straightforward, which is truly a relief if you've ever had to read anything approaching academic articles. It ...more
this woman is just mad because no man would ever want to marry an ungrateful lesbian like her. she calls hetreosexual sex (the natural right way to have sex) RAPE because she is psychotic. avoid her and her ranting. all she does is hate men.
i love you so much
This was a fantastic compilation filled with some essays that I'd previously read via ILL, and some essays that I hadn't! Many were never published in the United States prior to this collection, and some were essays that had never been published in the first place.
She discusses pornography, censorship, rape, male violence, in ways which are pressing, poignant, and overall determined. It's an incredible collection that is hugely powerful and made me ready and wanting to change the ...more
She discusses pornography, censorship, rape, male violence, in ways which are pressing, poignant, and overall determined. It's an incredible collection that is hugely powerful and made me ready and wanting to change the ...more
I'm always in awe every time I read anything Dworkin wrote and this was a lot to process
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Andrea Rita Dworkin was an American radical feminist and writer best known for her criticism of pornography, which she argued was linked to rape and other forms of violence against women.
An anti-war activist and anarchist in the late 1960s, Dworkin wrote 10 books on radical feminist theory and practice. During the late 1970s and the 1980s, she gained national fame as a spokeswoman for ...more
An anti-war activist and anarchist in the late 1960s, Dworkin wrote 10 books on radical feminist theory and practice. During the late 1970s and the 1980s, she gained national fame as a spokeswoman for ...more
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“We see a major trade in women, we see the torture of women as a form of entertainment, and we see women also suffering the injury of objectification—that is to say we are dehumanized. We are treated as if we are subhuman, and that is a precondition for violence against us.
I live in a country where if you film any act of humiliation or torture, and if the victim is a woman, the film is both entertainment and it is protected speech. Now that tells me something about what it means to be a woman citizen in this country, and the meaning of being second class.
When your rape is entertainment, your worthlessness is absolute. You have reached the nadir of social worthlessness. The civil impact of pornography on women is staggering. It keeps us socially silent, it keeps us socially compliant, it keeps us afraid in neighborhoods; and it creates a vast hopelessness for women, a vast despair. One lives inside a nightmare of sexual abuse that is both actual and potential, and you have the great joy of knowing that your nightmare is someone else’s freedom and someone else’s fun.”
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More quotes…
I live in a country where if you film any act of humiliation or torture, and if the victim is a woman, the film is both entertainment and it is protected speech. Now that tells me something about what it means to be a woman citizen in this country, and the meaning of being second class.
When your rape is entertainment, your worthlessness is absolute. You have reached the nadir of social worthlessness. The civil impact of pornography on women is staggering. It keeps us socially silent, it keeps us socially compliant, it keeps us afraid in neighborhoods; and it creates a vast hopelessness for women, a vast despair. One lives inside a nightmare of sexual abuse that is both actual and potential, and you have the great joy of knowing that your nightmare is someone else’s freedom and someone else’s fun.”
