Blog Eight
The two pieces I selected, "Pornograpy" by Andrea Dworkin and "Toward a Feminist Theory of the State" by Catherine MacKinnon share many similarities. Both view pornography as a way of objectifying women. They also agree that it is men who have created the industry and maintained it in order to show male's sexual dominance over women. The womens' sexuality is used and abused in order to satisfy the male audience. They tend to regard this kind of sexuality as men's way of debasing women.
However, the two author's views also differ in some aspects. For example, the idea of sexuality in and of itself. Dworkin claims that porngraphy attempts to make sexuality seem dirty; pornographer exploit the idea in order to sell tapes. Nevertheless, Dworkin doesn't seem to think that sexuality is inheritantly bad in and of itself, but rather has been corrupted by "male patriarchal dominance."
Contrarily, Catherine MacKinnon believes that all sexuality involving a man and a woman constitutes male dominance, no matter what the circumstances. She even believe that sexual relationships between gay men is an example of male dominance. She calls the women of these sexual relationships abused and compares them to victims of the Holocaust (real classy way to make one's case).
So, while MacKinnon goes more indepth with how sexuality itself is harmful, Dworkin merely seems to be against the exploitation of sexuality via pornography or other forms of sexual abuse.