“Our brains were two million years in the making. That long, slow accretion doubled our cranial capacity. And the first thing we did with it was say thank you. We drew the megafauna and the megafemales, sculpted and carved them. The oldest known figurative sculpture is the Goddess of Hohle Fels, and 40,000 years ago someone spent hundreds of hours carving Her. There is no mystery here, not to me: the animals and the women gave us life. Of course they were our first, endless art project. Awe and thanksgiving are built into us, body and brain. Once upon a time, we knew we were alive. And it was good.
And now we leave the realm of miracles and enter hell.
Patriarchy is the ruling religion of the planet. It comes in variations―some old, some new, some ecclesiastical, some secular. But at bottom, they are all necrophilic. Erich Fromm describes necrophilia as “the passion to transform that which is alive into something unalive; to destroy for the sake of destruction; the exclusive interest in all that is purely mechanical.” In this religion, the worst sin is being alive, and the carriers of that sin are female. Under patriarchy, the female body is loathsome; its life-giving fat-cells vilified; its generative organs despised. Its natural condition is always ridiculed: normal feet must be turned into four-inch stubs; rib cages must be crushed into collapse; breasts are varyingly too big or too small or excised entirely. That this inflicts pain―if not constant agony―is not peripheral to these practices. It’s central. When she suffers, she is made obedient.”
― Lierre Keith, ‘The Girls and the Grasses’
If it's not too much trouble, could you create or link to a masterpost of what you consider the must-reads on anti-pornography/anti-prostitution? For example books you've referenced by Andrea Dworkin.
Hello! I will put together a real master-list when I have time but here is a quick list of must-reads regarding the anti-sex industry movement in the West:
If you want a primer, read X-underrated by Catharine Mackinnon. It’s only six pages long but it lays out the entire anti-sex industry movement clearly. If you only have time for one link, it’s this one.
Andrea Dworkin:
Books:
Woman Hating
Pornography: Men Posessing Women
Life and Death
Right Wing Women
Letters from a War Zone. Link for the chapter titled “Pornography’s Part in Sexual Violence”
After those I would recommend Last Days at Hot Slit, Intercourse, and Our Blood. Edited by both Dworkin and Mackinnon is In Harm’s Way: The Pornography Civil Rights Hearings (oral testimony of victims of pornography)
Article: Prostitution and Male Supremacy
Rebecca Whisnant:
Book: Not for Sale: Feminists Resisting Prostitution and Pornography. This is a collection of essays by feminist writers (including Dworkin!), edited by Rebecca Whisnant and Christine Stark.
Articles:
[Not] Buying It, Prostitution as Unwanted Sex.
Pornography, Humiliation, and Consent (read this one)
But What About Feminist Porn? (only one “feminist” pornographer is discussed in detail but Whisnant’s analysis is widely applicable)
Julia Long:
Book: Anti-Porn: The Resurgence of Anti-Pornography Feminism. This one is very theory-heavy, be warned.
Catharine Mackinnon:
Books: Only Words, Are Women Human?, and the chapter Francis Biddle’s Sister: Pornography, Civil Rights, and Speech from Feminism Unmodified
Article: OnlyFans is not a Safe Platform for “Sex Work.” It’s a Pimp
Sheila Jeffreys:
Books: The Industrial Vagina, The Idea of Prostitution, and Beauty and Misogyny (Chapters 4,5 and 8 especially)
Evelina Giobbe:
Book: Living with Contradictions. The chapter titled “Confronting the Liberal Lies about Prostitution” is a masterpiece.
Article: An Analysis of Individual, Institutional, and Cultural Pimping. Giobbe is also cited in Catharine Mackinnon’s article above.
Gail Dines:
Books: Big Porn Inc. and Pornland. Read both of these. Dr. Dines writes for the public and her arguments are easy to follow.
Video: Dr. Dines discussing Pornland
Margaret Baldwin:
Book: Prostitution and Pornography. Read the chapter titled “Split at the Root: Prostitution and Feminist Discourses of Law Reform”
Kathleen Barry:
Book: The Prostitution of Sexuality: The Global Exploitation of Women
Kate Millet:
Book: The Prostitution Papers (highly recommend, if you’re looking for a less academic piece)
Robert Jensen:
Book: Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity
Assorted Articles:
Kajsa Ekis Ekman interview, author of Being and Being Bought: Prostitution, Surrogacy, and the Split Self (disclaimer: Ekman is now a Russian propagandist, but the interview and book, which is also excellent, are almost 10 years old, so it’s up to you to read or not.)
Celia Smythe Anderson and Yolanda Estes, “The Myth of the Happy Hooker: Kantian Moral Reflections on a Phenomenology of Prostitutio.” Don’t be fooled by the jargon-y title, this piece is a breeze if you can find it (try an academic library)
Alexa Tsoulis Ray, “A Brief History of Revenge Porn”
Rae Story, interview with Francine Sporendo and “The Middle Classing of Prostitution: The Social Climb of the Sex Trade”
Sarah Ditum, “Why I changed my mind about porn”
Max Waltman, “Legal Challenges to Pornography and Sex Inequality in Canada and the United States”
repost of my floral venus design for international women’s day (featuring suffragist version) im grateful to the female revolutionaries of my own country with all my heart for everything theyve done to make it possible that i lead my life the way i do today. of course this goes for every woman in the world who has ever fought for us and is curtently doing so. i hope i can contribute a lot throughout my life as well as we still have a long way to go.
free to use with credit <3
This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa
S.C.U.M. Manifesto by Valerie Solanas
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Who Cooked the Last Supper? The Women's History of the World. by Rosalind Miles
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Emma Criado Perez
Right-Wing Women by Andrea Dworkin
Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists: The Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How it Affects Us All by Laura Bates
holy shit
tryna lock in on my fitness journey and be strong
please can i get reasons to work out that arent linked to patriachal beauty standards
🪴