This article in the Observer concludes with four quotes by “feminists who have rocked the boat.” The quotes included:
“In a patriarchal society all heterosexual intercourse is rape because women, as a group, are not strong enough to give meaningful consent” – Catherine MacKinnon, feminist author (attributed)
“When a woman reaches orgasm with a man she is only collaborating with the patriarchal system, eroticising her own oppression.” – Sheila Jeffreys, lesbian feminist
I read those and felt quite offended by them (even though, as it turns out, the first one was never actually uttered by McKinnon). I then started musing about how the anti-sex stance taken by many radical feminists resulted in feminism coming to equal man-hating in many young women’s eyes.
I think it’s fair to say that any woman who loves sex with men would feel offended by those sentiments. The quotes cast all women into the roles of victims without choice and all men into the role of violent aggressor. That’s not how most modern Western women see their lives, or their relationships with men.
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I went looking for similar anti sex comments and found a bunch of them on this page – which is run by an aggreived father’s group – and here. Both sites are distinctly anti-feminist.
Now, given the sources, I can’t claim that these are authentic, but that’s not my point here. I wanted to gather them together as evidence of why so many people have an ingrained bias against the idea of feminism. These quotes exist in the public consciousness as prime examples of the what’s wrong with feminism.
These quotes are why so many women will say “I’m not a feminist, but…”.
“All men are rapists and that’s all they are” – Marilyn French, The Women’s Room
“I claim that rape exists any time sexual intercourse occurs when it has not been initiated by the woman, out of her own genuine affection and desire.” – Robin Morgan
“Heterosexual intercourse is the pure, formalized expression of contempt for women’s bodies.” – Andrea Dworkin
“And if the professional rapist is to be separated from the average dominant heterosexual [male], it may be mainly a quantitative difference.” – Susan Griffin, Rape: The All-American Crime
“The institution of sexual intercourse is anti-feminist” – Ti-Grace Atkinson, Amazon Odyssey (p. 86)
“The simple fact is that every woman must be willing to be identified as a lesbian to be fully feminist.” – National NOW Times, Jan.1988
“Men who are unjustly accused of rape can sometimes gain from the experience.” – Catherine Comin, Vassar College. Assistant Dean of Students.
“Satan-like, men possess women, making their wicked fantasies and desires women’s own. A woman who has sex with a man, therefore, does so against her will, ‘even if she does not feel forced.'” – Judith Levine
To end this post on a positive note, here’s a whole bunch of interesting feminist quotes that aren’t quite so radical or man-hating.
It includes this one:
“During the feminist revolution, the battle lines were again simple. It was easy to tell the enemy, he was the one with the penis. This is no longer strictly true. Some men are okay now. We’re allowed to like them again. We still have to keep them in line, of course, but we no longer have to shoot them on sight.” – Cynthia Heimel, Sex Tips for Girls, 1983
Pic is from Feminist Ezine.
You might be interested in this new blog, started only a few days ago…
Oh Andrea (Dworkin), how I love your hetero-intercourse is never fully contentual for the woman because society is pressuring her into it rants.
I did a paper on feminism and pornography for a class in my program, and of course, there is very little literature to review, and most of it is Dworkin and McKinnon. It just made me more and more angry as I was trying to write the paper.
Third wave, all the way!
I came across a lot of this type of stuff in my Women’s Studies classes in university and it drove me crazy. I can’t believe that some women feel that way. I truly feel sad for them. Women should be able to embrace their sexuality – no matter what it is – and still be able to call themselves a feminist.
I’m a feminist and proud of being sexual!
This site represents for me what the feminist movement *should* be about, but sadly isn’t. You seem to be heterosexual, sexually-active women who know what you want; you love men, and you’re not ashamed to say so. Can I please have your number?
Unfortunately the feminist movement was taken over by a vocal minority of neo-fascist lesbians in the early 1970s, with an avowed misson to destroy the family, men and heterosexuality, all of which they see as instruments of something called ‘The Patriarchy’. They believe that you cannot be a ‘proper’ woman, much less a proper feminist, unless you’re a lesbian. They, and their ultra-conservative, self-loathing followers in the straight community, have been agitating ever since, with very great effect, and substantially unnoticed by the mainstream. The evidence for these claims is all around you, and I will provide references if required.
If you really love men, then women like you are key to doing something about this situation. Please reclaim the feminist movement for the majority of women, so that I can support it again, like I used to.
“Some men are okay now. We’re allowed to like them again. We still have to keep them in line, of course, but we no longer have to shoot them on sight”
This is your opinion of an aceptable moderate statement? You must be joking. Do you believe that men should be allowed to ‘keep you in line’? Why should you be allowed to, still less need to, keep us in line?
This whole story – that men are vile beasts and women shining pillars of virtue – is precisely the problem with feminism. It is a Victorian notion. Certainly not very progressive. It relies on ignoring the positive actions of men, which is most of them, and the negative actions of women. If this kind of dishonest, self-justifying garbage is the best that feminists can come up with, then I have no respect for them at all. You now have all the rights anyone could need or want – it’s time to grow up and take responsibility too.
Heretic, here’s a couple of suggestions
1. Develop a sense of humor. That quote is meant to be funny and I included it because I thought it was silly and whimsical, nothing more.
2. Go and visit Feministing where you’ll find a whole variety of modern feminists who fit into your idea of what a feminist should be. They’ll be more interested in arguing the point with you.
I’m a feminist, but I’m also a pornographer who is not involved in a “movement.” I’m just trying to make decent stroke material for women and I have a side interest in pro-sex feminist philosophies. I’m also about to bog off on holidays so I couldn’t be arsed having a debate at this point.
Thanks for visiting.
🙂
Considering what I know about Judith Levine, that last quote has to have been taken way out of context. Levine did write a book called My Enemy, My Love about man-hating and straight women’s ambiguous relationships with men about 10 or so years back. However, that was a book that was more about analyzing that phenomenon – unlike Dworkin, she certainly was not advocating that women go hating on men, and she’d probably be the last person to hold that men have some kind of “Satan-like” power over women.
Just thought I’d clear that up.