I found when I (briefly) read one of Andrea Dworkin's speeches all I felt was fear and suspicion. Her words and rhetoric aroused in me a fear in my husband, my father, my uncle, any male that I know. I wonder if she imparts that fear in me because that is the way she is feeling. While I want to be a well informed, safe female, I do not want to feel that my husband is raping me just because I have sex with him. This is my decision, one that I consciously make every time we have sex. By saying that he belongs to the society of rapists is the kind of blanket generalization that makes me want to turn off what she is saying. My husband could rape me or someone else, but that would be one man making a decision, and would not be something I could blame on all men.
I also agree with moJoe that she is alienating a portion of our society that has a right to be included on the “good” side of the fight. By challenging and insulting all men, including my husband, she makes if very hard for him to take a strong stance with women, because he is already the enemy, and can never be anything else, so why should he try to become part of the fight against violence? Men that have been raised by mothers and father that taught them the right way to treat women can only be passive observers in her fight, and can never gain the status of a “good human being” in her eyes. I find that frustrating, because it is hard to get men interested in doing the right thing when they know they are going to be villainized anyway. So, this is too long and rambling for a first post.
Please /msg me if you have anything to say