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2004-06-10 - 3:35 p.m. I was walking by the bookstore a couple days ago when this little gem caught my eye from the window display. I could barely regain my composure long enough to rush in and buy it. As soon as I was out the door, I was back to giggling again. Am I the only person who can’t stop pissing herself laughing every time I think of this book? Are the publishers out to derange us all through hysterical giggling fits? It's a tender-hearted biography of one of the most radical feminists alive (between her and McKinnon, the world is a VERY Strange Place Indeed). So the basic tenants of their theories surrounding sexuality are as follows (I'll bullet it so you can better follow the logic): 1. We live in a state of patriarchy. There is no escaping this. 1i. Women are always a subordinate group. 1ii. Therefore no relationship between men and women can be viewed as a relationship between equals. 2. Consent is defined as meaningful only when it is consent between two equal partners. 2i. See Point 1ii. 2ii. Therefore, meaningful consent between a man and a woman, within the (inescapable) domain of patriarchy is an illusion. A woman can never consent to sexual intercourse with a man. 3. Intercourse without meaningful consent, according to law as well as common opinion, is rape. 3i. See Point 2ii. 3ii. Therefore, all heterosexual intercourse is rape. Further... 4. Lesbianism as a political choice is not an option, since choosing intercourse with a woman in reaction to patriarchy is still allowing patriarchy to reign over your choices. Last but not least, 5. Any woman who thinks her consent is meaningful is deluded and doesn't know any better. Seriously, they don't even sugar-coat this point. If you are a pro-sex heterosexual woman, you are living in a fucking Dream World, baby! TOTALLY important stuff, in that I think these are thoughts that need to be voiced succintly and accurately and thrown to the ideological wind to land where they may and start people mulling over them. However, I do think that they are extreme and I don't agree with them -- but I do think they need to be out there in order to stimulate debate and discussion and even just to act as one extreme as we struggle to find a suitable middle ground for ourselves (myself). So yeah. I just really think that this is funny. Tender-hearted and poignant, she is not. She is a fucking hard-core feminist BADASS. I can't wait to read this totally mis-titled book!!! It'd be like calling a biography about Ronald Reagan and his 1980's AIDS-related politics "The Tender Cherub" or something, instead of, like, THE EYE OF THE HURRICANE or HERE'S HOW NOT TO DEAL WITH AN EPIDEMIC. Tomorrow night is my Graduation dinner. I'm thinking I might try to bring this up with the parents again -- I've very unsuccessfully tried to wrap my dad's head around Dworkin before (let's all pause for a moment and allow that comment to have its full effect of "possible shocking inuendo"). I'll update in a few days when I've started making my way through the pages. I am SO incredibly excited about this book. I guess that makes me just about the geekiest little indy-feminist to walk the face of the earth.
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