Intercourse (book)
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Founder | Andrea Dworkin |
| Products | Non-fiction book |
Intercourse represents the fifth nonfiction work authored by American radical feminist and activist Andrea Dworkin, released in 1987 through Free Press. In this book, Dworkin offers a radical feminist critique of sexual intercourse as depicted in both literature and societal norms.
She is frequently interpreted as asserting that "all heterosexual sex is rape," a notion derived from her statement, "Violation is a synonym for intercourse." Nonetheless, Dworkin refuted this interpretation, emphasizing that "Sex must not place women in a subordinate role. It should be mutual and not an aggressive act by a man seeking only his own gratification."
Thesis
Within Intercourse, Dworkin broadens her prior examination of pornography to encompass heterosexual intercourse itself. In earlier works such as Woman Hating (1974) and Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981), she argued that pornography eroticizes the sexual subjugation of women within patriarchal systems. In this book, she asserts that such sexual domination is fundamental to the experience of intercourse between men and women in a male-dominated society, perpetuated across mainstream culture—including canonical male-authored literature.
By scrutinizing texts like The Kreutzer Sonata (1889), Madame Bovary (1856), and Dracula (1897), alongside religious scriptures, legal analyses, and pornographic material, Dworkin contends that conventional portrayals depict heterosexual intercourse as the sole or most authentic form of sexual activity; frame it in terms of violence or invasion; connect this violence with erotic appeal; and frequently associate it with male disdain or even lethal aggression toward the "carnal" woman. She argues these narratives uphold a male-centered, coercive understanding of sexuality which, combined with sexist societal conditions, renders heterosexual intercourse a mode of male control experienced as an "occupation" that women are expected to find pleasurable and that defines their femininity.
Cindy Jenefsky, in Without Apology: Andrea Dworkin's Art and Politics (1998), observes that Dworkin situates the personal act of intercourse within its broader societal framework, offering a materialist perspective that treats sexual intercourse as an institutionalized practice.
Controversy
Detractors frequently assert—citing Intercourse—that Dworkin claimed "All heterosexual intercourse is rape." Advocates point out this exact phrase does not appear in her text. The metaphors comparing intercourse to "occupation," "possession," and "collaboration" arise within discussions about how intercourse is represented in "the discourse of male truth—literature, science, philosophy, pornography," and how male social authority enforces these concepts.
Dworkin’s denial of the interpretation that "All heterosexual intercourse is rape" leads some to argue that such readings mischaracterize her arguments. Her supporters reference an interview with editor Michael Moorcock in New Statesman & Society, where Dworkin clarified: "In Intercourse I approached the subject as a social practice, material reality... Most men and many women experience sexual pleasure amid inequality. Since the model for sex has been conquest, possession, and violation, many men feel they require an unfair advantage—at its extreme labeled rape. I do not believe they need it. Both intercourse and sexual pleasure can and will endure equality."
Journalist Cathy Young considered Dworkin's explanation contradictory to her persistent critique of conventional heterosexual behavior as violent or coercive, concluding that Dworkin was indeed anti-sex.
Following Dworkin’s passing in 2005, art critic John Berger—quoted in The Guardian—described her as "the most misrepresented writer in the western world." He emphasized she never claimed all men are rapists or that all sex constitutes rape. Berger recalled Dworkin’s 1997 statement: "If you believe what people call normal sex is an act of dominance where a man desires a woman so intensely he uses force to express it... then denouncing force in sex may sound like denouncing sex itself."
Reviews
- Ice and Fire and Intercourse, both by Andrea Dworkin. "Male and Female, Men and Women" – Carol Sternhell, The New York Times, 3 May 1987
- Response: Andrea Dworkin, letter to the editor, The New York Times, 24 May 1987
- Subsequent replies: Catharine MacKinnon and Mary Daly, letters to the editor, The New York Times, 14 June 1987
- Reviewer's counter-response: Carol Sternhell, letter to the editor, The New York Times, 14 June 1987
- Response: Andrea Dworkin, letter to the editor, The New York Times, 24 May 1987
- Intercourse by Andrea Dworkin and Feminism Unmodified by Catharine MacKinnon. "Porn in the U.S.A., Part I" – Maureen Mullarkey, The Nation, 30 May 1987
- Intercourse, Tenth Anniversary Edition (1997) by Andrea Dworkin – Giney Villar, Women in Action, 1998