Pornography is a Civil Rights Issue for Women

Authors

Andrea DworkinFollow

Abstract

My name is Andrea Dworkin. I am a citizen of the United States, and in this country where I live, every year millions and millions of pictures are being made of women with our legs spread. We are called beaver, we are called pussy, our genitals are tied up, they are pasted, makeup is put on them to make them pop out of a page at a male viewer. Millions and millions of pictures are made of us in postures of submission and sexual access so that our vaginas are exposed for penetration, our anuses are exposed for penetration, our throats are used as if they are genitals for penetration. In this country where I live as a citizen real rapes are on film and are being sold in the marketplace. And the major motif of pornography as a form of entertainment is that women are raped and violated and humiliated until we discover that we like it and at that point we ask for more.

Recommended Citation

Andrea Dworkin, Pornography is a Civil Rights Issue for Women, 21 U. Mich. J. L. Reform 55 (1988).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mjlr/vol21/iss1/5