Intercourse (32 page)

The literal wounding of the genitals, including the circumcision of male infants, suggests human, not divine, fury: a hatred of the self in sex passed on as a patriarchal legacy; a human practice expressing for the male a self-hatred and toward the female a genocidal loathing. The wounding is literal; yet it is also psychologically true—in sex, the act itself is often wounding—scarring, hurting, a jagged edge of pain and grief. Certainly this is true often for women; as the first-person narrator says in Joan Didion’s novel
A Book of Common Prayer
,

I recall once telling Charlotte about a village on the Orinoco where the female children were ritually cut on the inner thigh by their first sexual partners, the point being to scar the female with the male’s totem. Charlotte saw nothing extraordinary in this. “I mean that’s pretty much what happens everywhere, isn’t it, ” she said. “Somebody cuts you? Where it doesn’t show? ”
⁷⁶

Surely if humans, far and wide, wound the genitals, we hate them; we hate where they take us, what we do with them. This is not an equal hate—male and female; but a hate of male over female, the male so angered by the penis and what—he thinks, feels, knows—it makes him do—penetrate the vagina, dirt, death—that he inflicts retribution on it: wounding it when he has the power, the civil power, not to; to prohibit any such wounding. In intercourse he is, in the words of Marguerite Yourcenar’s Hadrian, “[n]ailed to the beloved body like a slave to a cross. ”
⁷⁷
He wounds the genitals responsible: his own and hers.

The men as a body politic have power over women and decide how women will suffer: which sadistic acts against the bodies of women will be construed to be normal. In the United States, incest is increasingly the sadism of choice, the intercourse itself wounding the female child and socializing her to her female status—early; perhaps a sexual response to the political rebellion of adult women; a tyranny to destroy the potential for rebellion. “I felt like I was being ripped up the middle of my legs all the way to my throat, ” one incest victim said. “I was sure that if I opened my eyes and looked down, I would be in two parts on the bed. ”
⁷⁸
This too is genital mutilation—with the penis doing the cutting. Perhaps incestuous rape is becoming a central paradigm for intercourse in our time. Women are supposed to be small and childlike, in looks, in rights; child prostitution keeps increasing in mass and in legitimacy, the children sexually used by a long chain of men—fathers, uncles, grandfathers, brothers, pimps, pornographers, and the good citizens who are the consumers; and men, who are, after all, just family, are supposed to slice us up the middle, leaving us in parts on the bed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank my friends and colleagues in the international feminist antipornography movement for their courage and love; there are so many, and I hope they will forgive me for not naming them here as individuals. I thank John Stoltenberg for the gift of his love and friendship. I especially thank Elaine Markson, Geri Thoma, Phyllis Langer, Sandra Elkin, Robin Morgan, Anne Simon, Catharine A. MacKinnon, Kathleen Barry, Valerie Harper, Judith Malina, and Gerry Spence for their tremendous support in the last years. Peter Grose and Jane Wood at Seeker & Warburg in London have been generous and strong advocates of my work and I am deeply grateful to them. I thank Laura Wolff at The Free Press for commissioning and publishing this book. Kathleen Barry made a special contribution to the discussion of language in Chapter 7—and the idea that women speak a second language and have no language of our own is hers. I thank Letty Cottin Pogrebin and Leah Fritz, each of whom challenged me to write this book. I am privileged to know feminist activists and writers from many parts of the world who fight for women’s freedom with militance and compassion and I thank them as a woman for the pride they inspire.

Andrea Dworkin

New York City, 1986

NOTES

CHAPTER 1 REPULSION

1.     Quoted in Karen Monson,
Alma Mahler: Muse to Genius
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1983), p. 67.

2.     Monson,
Alma Mahler, p. 68.

3.     Henri Troyat,
Tolstoy, trans. Nancy Amphoux (New York: Harmony Books, 1980), p. 497.

4.     Troyat,
Tolstoy, p. 502.

5.     Quoted in Leo Tolstoy,
Last Diaries, ed. Leon Stilman (New York: Amo Press,1979), p. 21.

6.     Leo Tolstoy,Tolstoy’s Letters, ed. R. F. Christian, 2 vols. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978), p. 469.

7.     Quoted in Troyat, Tolstoy, p. 503.

8.     Sophie Andreyevna Tolstoy, The Countess Tolstoy’s Later Diary: i8gi-i8g7, trans. Alexander Werth (New York: Payson and Clarke, 1929), p. 28.

9.     Martin Green, Tolstoy and Gandhi: Men of Peace (New York: Basic Books, Publishers, 1983), p. 191.

10.     S. Tolstoy, Later Diary , p. 126.

11.     S. Tolstoy,
Later Diary, p. 90.

12.     Sophie Andreyevna Tolstoy,
The Diary of Tolstoy's Wife: i
860
-i
8
gi, trans. Alexander Werth (New York: Payson and Clarke, 1928), p. 98.

13.     S. Tolstoy,
Diary of Tolstoy’s Wife,
p. 144.

14.     S. Tolstoy,
Diary of Tolstoy’s Wife,
p. 153.

15.     S. Tolstoy,
Later Diary, p. 97.

16.     S. Tolstoy,
Diary of Tolstoy’s Wife, p. 37.

17.     S. Tolstoy,
Later Diary, p. 90.

18.     Quoted in Ernest J. Simmons,
Leo Tolstoy: The Tears of Maturity, i
880
-igi
0
,
vol. 2 (New York: Vintage Books, 1946), pp. 132-33.

19.     L. Tolstoy,
Last Diaries,
p. 210.

20.     L. Tolstoy,
Last Diaries, p. 203.

21.     S. Tolstoy,
Later Diary,
p. 130.

22.     L. Tolstoy,
Last Diaries, p. 203.

23.     Leo Tolstoy,
The Kreutzer Sonata, pp. 353-449, in
Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy, trans. Louise and Aylmer Maude (New York: Perennial Library, 1967), p. 427.

24.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 358.

25.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 358.

26.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 362.

27.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 362.

28.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 363.

29.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 385.

30.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 364.

31.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 364.

32.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 364.

33.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 365.

34.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 366.

35.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 367.

36.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 367.

37.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 367.

38.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 370.

39.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 376.

40.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 377.

41.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 377.

42.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 378.

43.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 378.

44.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 382.

45.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 380.

46.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 380.

47.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 380.

48.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 445.

49.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 370.

50.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 370.

51.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata, p. 373.

52.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 374.

53.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 374.

54.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 374.

55.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 374.

56.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 373.

57.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 385.

58.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 385.

59.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 418.

60.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 382.

61.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 396.

62.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 396.

63.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 409.

64.     L. Tolstoy,
Kreutzer Sonata,
p. 424.

65.     S. Tolstoy,
Diary of Tolstoy's Wife, p. 154.

CHAPTER 2 SKINLESS

1.     Kobo Abe,
The Face of Another,
trans. E. Dale Saunders (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Perigee Books, 1980), p. 83.

2.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 83.

3.     Leo Steinberg,
The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion
(New York: Pantheon Books, 1983), p. 13.

4.     Kobo Abe,
The Woman in the Dunes, trans. E. Dale Saunders (New York: Vintage Books, 1972), p. 122.

5.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 39.

6.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 91.

7.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 90.

8.     Kobo Abe,
The Box Man,
trans. E. Dale Saunders (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Perigee Books, 1980), p. 67.

9.     Abe,
Box Man,
p. 68.

10.     Abe,
Box Man,
p. 143.

11.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 144.

12.     Abe,
Box Man,
pp. 167-8.

13.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 51.

14.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 41.

15.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 41.

16.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 94.

17.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 46.

18.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes, pp. 47-8.

19.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
pp. 139-40.

20.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes, p. 141.

21.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes, p. 191.

22.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 232.

23.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 224.

24.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 187.

25.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 196.

26.     Abe,
Box Man,
p. 32.

27.     Abe,
Box Man,
p. 51.

28.     Abe,
Box Man,
p. 160.

29.     Abe,
Box Man,
p. 169.

30.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 169.

31.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 173.

32.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 173.

33.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes,
p. 55.

34.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes, p. 55.

35.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 160.

36.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 45.

37.     Abe, Box Man, p. 86.

38.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 86.

39.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 86.

40.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 135.

41.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 174.

42.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 175.

43.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 176.

44.     Abe,
Box Man, p. 176.

45.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 186.

46.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 197.

47.     Abe,
Woman in the Dunes, p. 140.

48.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 147.

49.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 93.

50.     Abe,
Box Man,
p. 174.

51.     Abe,
Box Man,
p. 134.

52.     Abe,
Face of Another,
p. 224.

CHAPTER 3 STIGMA

1.     Webster’s Third International Dictionary,
s. v. “stigma. ”

2.     Tennessee Williams,
The Rose Tattoo, pp. 257-415, in
The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, vol. 2 (New York: New Directions, 1971), p. 342.

3.     Williams,
Rose Tattoo,
p. 277.

4.     Williams,
Rose Tattoo,
p. 277.

5.     Williams,
Rose Tattoo,
p. 312.

6.     Williams,
Rose Tattoo,
p. 312.

7.     Williams,
Rose Tattoo,
p. 342.

8.     Tennessee Williams,
Summer and Smoke,
pp. 113-256, in
The Theatre of Tennessee Williams, vol. 2 (New York: New Directions, 1971), p. 197.

9.     Williams,
Summer and Smoke,
p. 125.

10.     Williams,
Summer and Smoke,
p. 144.

11.     Williams,
Summer and Smoke,
p. 200.

12.     Williams,
Summer and Smoke,
p. 202.

13.     Williams,
Summer and Smoke,
pp. 202-3.

14.     Williams,
Summer and Smoke,
p. 244.

15.     Tennessee Williams,
A Streetcar Named Desire
(New York: The New American Library, 1984), p. 29.

16.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 70.

17.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 72.

18.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 112.

19.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 70.

20.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 118.

21.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 95.

22.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 95.

23.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 95.

24.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 84.

25.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 118.

26.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 118.

27.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 121.

28.     Williams,
Streetcar, p. 126.

29.     Tennessee Williams, Foreword, vii-viii, Zfrrd
of Youth
(New York: New Directions, 1972), p. viii.

30.     Tennessee Williams,
Small Craft Warnings
(New York: New Directions,

1972), p. 46. 

CHAPTER 4 COMMUNION

1.     Marabel Morgan, Tfo
7
o&zZ Woman (New York: Pocket Books, 1975), p. 141.

2.     James Baldwin, Notes
of a Native Son
(Boston: Beacon Press, 1984), p. 131.

3.     James Baldwin,
Another Country
(New York: Dell Publishing Company, 1972), p. 105.

4.     Baldwin,
Another Country, p. 106.

5.      James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni, Dialogue
(Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1973), p. 86.

6.     James Baldwin,
No Name in the Street
(New York: Delta Books, 1973), p. 36.