Koedt and Dworkin
Koedt and Dworkin share similarities in that they both view sexuality as being a patriarchal concept.
Koedt argues that the clitoris is equivalent to the penis (meaning orgasms occur via the clitoris), and since men dominate women, the female’s penis (clitoris) is ignored so as not to threat men’s masculinity. Women are thought to have psychological problems if they do not experience orgasms via the vagina, which is to say that women are supposed to be pleased with whatever works for the man (missionary position). Men define sexual normalcy. Some women fake vaginal orgasms as a way to “catch� a man, which emphasizes the idea that women are expected to win men over by impressing them sexually. Koedt also argues that foreplay is strictly for the man’s pleasure. And she says that we’re living in a society that is unwilling to change the roles of men and women.
Dworkin argues that pornography involves the lowest of whores. The problem with pornography is that real women are objectified in order to maintain these depictions. There’s a sexual framework of male domination in which whores exist. Dworkin goes on to argue that all women are in fact whores due to the real women used in pornography. “The debasing of women is held to be the real pleasure of sex.� There’s this idea that women love to be exploited.
Both Koedt and Dworkin seem to believe that women’s sexual needs are placed on the backburner in order for men’s needs to be met. Men define (whether consciously or not) sexuality as a whole; they determine what it means to be sexual and what stigmas are attached to men and women’s roles in sexuality. Lastly, change in this patriarchal sexual system does not seem to be in the stars for us anytime in the near future.