Andrea Dworkin

Andrea Rita Dworkin (September 26, 1946 – April 9, 2005) was an American radical feminist and writer. Dworkin wrote ten books about radical feminism. She was most famous for saying that pornography hurts the women who participate in it and makes men who watch it believe harmful things about women. Her two most well known books are Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981) and Intercourse (1987). In 1986, Dworkin's first novel Ice and Fire was published.

Early life

Dworkin was born in Camden, New Jersey. She was raised in a Jewish household. In sixth grade she started writing poetry. In 1965 Dworkin was arrested during an anti-Vietnam War protest at the United States Mission to the United Nations. She was sent to the New York Women's House of Detention.

Career

Dworkin's first feminist book Woman Hating was published in 1974. Our Blood: Prophesies and Discourses on Sexual Politics was published in 1976. In 2000 Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel And Women's Liberation was published. The book was inspired by a visit Dworkin made to Israel in 1988. The book compares the oppression of Jews to the oppression of women. In the book Dworkin says that women should have their own homeland like Jews have Israel.

Personal life

Dworkin was a lesbian. Dworkin married Cornelius (Iwan) Dirk de Bruin in 1967. In 1971 they divorced. In 1998 she married John Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg is openly gay. In 1999 Dworkin was raped in Paris. Dworkin died in Washington, D.C. when she was 58 from myocarditis.