Andrea Dworkin

Andrea Dworkin was a radical feminist and author. She was born in 1946 and died in 2005. She was anti-porn and many of her views have been misrepresented.

Biography

Dworkin was born September 26 1946, in New Jersey. She was often cared for by relatives because of her mothers heart issues. Her father was a socialist. Dworkin went to Bennington College. She protested the Vietnam war and was arrested and given a traumatic body cavity search at a prison. She told newspapers about the abuse and the prison was closed, but her parents disowned her.

After this she moved to Greece and became a prostitute. After a year in Greece she went back to college and got her bachelors degree in 1968. She moved overseas and married a dutch man who began abusing her. She tried to get help but no one would assist her. She ran away from her husband until a friend helped her come back to the united states. Once back, she divorced her husband. Dworkin released her first book, Woman Hating, at the age of 27. Many claimed she was anti-men but she denied this.

Dworkin kept writing until she couldn't anymore due to illness. She died in her sleep in 2005 at the age of 58.

Activism

Dworkin wrote many books with radical feminist theory that's still talked about today. Many of her books were published by U.K. publishing houses because American companies found her to be too radical.

Linda Marchiano(Lovelace) tried to sue the people in charge of her films because she suffered from being coerced into porn. Dworkin asked MacKinnon to help Marchiano but there were no standing laws to support her case. An ordinance was drafted to allow people to sue the producers of porn, which was supported by radical feminists and conservatives but other feminist groups argued it blocked women's right to explore their sexuality. A couple cities adopted it but the U.S. Supreme court deemed it unconstitutional.