Week 8 Blog
Two of the articles we read this week really focused in on women being defined in terms of men’s sexual pleasure. Both articles by Koedt and Dworkin did this. Koedt focused in on the “myth of the vaginal orgasm� – basically, how the idea that women can have vaginal orgasms has been perpetuated by men. Women, she states, cannot have vaginal orgasms. Their spot for stimulation is actually the clitoris, but as this spot is not a pleasure point for men, who receive their pleasure from penetration, it is ignored. Women are made to feel bad and even go through therapy or surgery to fix their “inadequacies� sexually. Dworkin, on the other hand, briefly discusses pornography and women’s connection to it. Her belief is that women are looked upon as “low whores.�
Both these articles work well with each other, since women are basically just for men’s pleasure. Dworkin takes it even further than Koedt though. Not only are women for men’s pleasure, but they are also dirty and low. She says, “…pornography embodies and exploits this idea [that female sexuality is dirty]; pornography sells and promotes it.� So both are just arguing that women are the objects of men’s sexual wants. This all, of course, goes back to Plumwood’s dualism system. Women only exist for the pleasure of men.
The two articles do not really contradict each other, or argue against each other. As stated earlier, Dworkin simply furthers Koedt’s original argument, although in a mental state not so much physical. Koedt deals with the physical issues of female sexuality. Dworkin deals with it mentally and emotionally.