[soc.feminism] The Story of O

gazit@cs.duke.edu (Hillel Gazit) (10/17/90)

#<Andrea Dworkin is alleged to have written> a very appreciative review
#of The Story of O.

In article <1357@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM> Ed Falk) writes:

>Ouch.  That book is one of the most horribly brutal things I've ever
>read.  It's about a woman who's being systematically abused.

You realize that the book was a fantasy, don't you?

>Eventually her lover gives her as a gift to another man and the abuse
>gets worse.  Towards the end, she's branded with her new master's
>monogram, leaving scars half an inch deep.  The frightening thing is
>that nothing's restraining her from getting up and walking away from
>the situation -- she *chooses* to stay and take the abuse.  

And you disapprove her choice...

Sometime down the road you may discover what Napoleon discovered in Spain:
You just can't free people against their will.

>Supposedly it was a woman who wrote it.

The critics claim that it was written by a woman,
and they give several good arguments.

>Sometimes I think that the feminist definition of pornography vs.
>erotica is more a matter of writing style than content.

The definition is very simple:
If the feminists enjoy it then it is erotica, 
but if I enjoy it then it is porno.

Follow-up was set to alt.sex.bondage. [However, it doesn't belong there--AMBAR]

Hillel                                                      gazit@cs.duke.edu

"Aside from pornography being deadly dull, it doesn't bother me.
Now, present me with erotic *literature*..."  -- Cindy Tittle