notes ([info]cookieavalanche) wrote in [info]feminist,
@ 2005-04-10 18:28:00
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Andrea Dworkin died
For those of you who don't know, Andrea Dworkin passed away. I didn't see anything about this posted here yet... also couldn't find any online articles about it... but I thought a lot of you would like to know.

Received this email from one of my women's studies teachers- sorry about the wierd format:



I have received many emails from list members
> expressing their profound sadness about Andrea's
> death. They have also requested information so here
> is what I have. Andrea had not been in good health
> for a long time but there was no immediate crisis
> from what I can gather. I spoke to her last month
> about arranging for her to come to a conference and
> health was not preventing her from travelling.
> However, due to a number of disabilities, travelling
> did present challenges. It seems that she did not
> feel too well on Friday night but did not go to the
> hospital. On Saturday morning, John Stoltenberg
> found her but it was too late for medical attention.
> Many have asked me if there is anything they can do
> or a place to post thoughts about Andrea's life. At
> the moment, her close friends are too stunned to
> think about a memorial service but there is talk of
> organizing one in the future. The people who knew
> her best recommend giving money in her name to the
> rape crisis center or battered
> women's shelter of you choice. There are also
> plans to set up a web site for us to post messages
> about her. I will keep you informed. I knew Andrea
> personally for fifteen years but I really knew her
> my entire adult life as her work framed my politics.
> I spoke to many women yesterday and we have no words
> to express how we feel. There is a real desire to
> come together to mourn her collectively so my sense
> is that there will be an event in the near future.
> As soon as I know anything more, I will post it to
> the list.
>

Edit: For those of you who don't know, Andrea Dworkin was an incredibly influential and controversial feminist/activist/writer who played a very big role in the second wave radical feminist movement. Love her or hate her, she can probably be considered one of today's most famous and noteworthy radical feminist icons. Here is a really good website about her, including a really useful online library of her writings.

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[info]lifeisacabaret
2005-04-10 10:46 pm UTC (link)
Thank you for letting us know this... this is the first I have heard. So passes an amazing woman. I don't have words.

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[info]bethanthepurple
2005-04-10 10:49 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for posting.
*sigh* :(

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[info]frickinmuck
2005-04-10 10:52 pm UTC (link)
this is truly heartbreaking.

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[info]bethanthepurple
2005-04-10 11:18 pm UTC (link)
I mentioned it on an irc channel I frequent.
One response was "What do you call a dead feminist?"
I think someone must have had a quiet word with him because he never gave the punchline.

And there is *nothing* on the BBC website.

Remember kids! If your views are a little unsavoury for the general populace, you're gonna be forgotten asap!

Bastards.

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[info]towanda
2005-04-10 11:23 pm UTC (link)
I can't even find information on it when Googling!

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[info]cookieavalanche
2005-04-10 11:30 pm UTC (link)
That's because it just happened-- it's not even on feminist sites, or dworkin's own site, yet.

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[info]towanda
2005-04-10 11:33 pm UTC (link)
Heh, but if its not on google it can't be true!! ;)

Out of curiosity, how did your teacher find out?

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[info]cookieavalanche
2005-04-10 11:45 pm UTC (link)
I think it's from a women's studies list serve-- so women's studies teachers all over (I'm assuming the US) can communicate with each other. Someone who knew Dworkin very well posted this today.

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[info]bethanthepurple
2005-04-10 11:32 pm UTC (link)
try wikipedia

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[info]towanda
2005-04-10 11:35 pm UTC (link)
Ah, they have a date listed at least. Thanks. :)

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[info]cookieavalanche
2005-04-10 11:24 pm UTC (link)
It happened this morning, and there is really nothing anywhere about it, not even on feminist websites, or on andrea dworkin's own website. I only know about this because a teacher forwarded it to me from a women's studies list serve-- like it says, there will be more info coming out in the next few days.

If there's still nothing about it anywhere within the week, then we can start worrying :)

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[info]bethanthepurple
2005-04-10 11:35 pm UTC (link)
*nods*
Thanks for rationale.
I just really expect better of the BBC.
They're meant to know the news *before* me, y'know!
It's not like she's unknown... :/

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[info]towanda
2005-04-10 11:37 pm UTC (link)
Yeah I'm tripping out on the idea of me knowing before the rest of the world too. But hey, that's feminist consciousness raising in action. :)

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[info]jennifer0246
2005-04-10 11:57 pm UTC (link)
yeah, it hasn't been released to the public or media yet, from what i'd heard as of this afternoon. apparently, if it made a listserve, that has changed, but media might take a bit to catch up.

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[info]frickinmuck
2005-04-11 03:27 am UTC (link)
I refuse to believe she's been forgotten. I'd prefer to think the word hasn't spread much yet.

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[info]towanda
2005-04-10 10:56 pm UTC (link)
Oh how sad.
It was only a few semesters ago that we tried to bring her to campus as well. Another amazing voice gone. I only hope equally powerful voices will rise up in her place. Thank you for posting.

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[info]redstar826
2005-04-11 01:54 am UTC (link)
thanks for the edit explaining who she was, I honestly hadn't heard of her before reading this.

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[info]trinityva
2005-04-11 03:46 am UTC (link)
It's sad that she's died.

I have a whole lot of misgivings about what she had to say (why is it usually considered anti-Semitic to compare horrors of various sorts to the Holocaust but clever and brilliant when she compares pornography to it?) but it is truly sad she's gone.

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[info]northern_sky18
2005-04-11 04:31 am UTC (link)
i agree with you --

i didn't neccessarily agree with (many) of her beliefs, but it is sad that's she's gone. one of the most influential feminists we've seen in the twentieth century, even if i don't like to admit it.

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"Say what?"
[info]everwatcher
2005-04-11 05:13 pm UTC (link)
why is it usually considered anti-Semitic to compare horrors of various sorts to the Holocaust but clever and brilliant when she compares pornography to it?

This alleged opinion is news to me; although I've waded through a few of her (extremely lengthy) essays, nothing that odd could be found in them.

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Re: "Say what?"
[info]trinityva
2005-04-11 05:30 pm UTC (link)
I can;t seem to find it again, but I was looking at something online the other day where she basically said "We all know the Holocaust is bad, but why don't we see that porn is similar?" and she spoke in all these odd metaphors about how the Jewish people in the camps didn't spread their legs with smiles for the Nazis. It was really bizarre.

I'll keep hunting for it.

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[info]grey_and_purple
2005-04-11 12:23 pm UTC (link)
Andrea Dworkin had many ideas that I just couldn't support (especially her advocacy of censorship); for years and years I have argued against many of her beliefs.

For all that, though, her beliefs were her own; she was a genuine individual and no automaton. I respect her in the sense that I respect Richard Nixon: as a powerful and admirable speaker regardless of how I feel about her positions on issues or her personal behaviour. I have never met anyone familiar with her views who has weak feelings about them, and that in itself is the mark of a strong and valuable figure.

For all her faults, people like her were and are needed. For feminists who love her, and for feminists who hate her, and for feminists who pretend she is beneath them, and for antifeminists who hold her up as a symbol of everything they hate in feminism, there is now an Andrea-Dworkin-shaped hole in the world; no one can ever replace her.

Pity, though; I always dreamed of seeing her in debate with Camille Paglia. That would have been memorable and thought-provoking.

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[info]cookieavalanche
2005-04-11 03:54 pm UTC (link)
I think what you're saying is really important. There were a lot of people who straight up hated Dworkin and held her (both feminists and anti-feminists) as a symbol of all that was wrong with feminism. There were other people who looked up to her as a hero, an icon, even a revolutionary of sorts. There were lots of people who didn't know much except heresay about her and haven't actually read her but spouted off tripe about her anyways. No matter how you look at her, her impact on feminism cannot be denied. She articulated some of the most important ideas in radical feminism. And we were all touched by her, whether or not we wanted to be, or whether or not we even knew it; being influnced by her in some sense can't be escaped-- because she helped frame and shape feminism as it is today, at basically every level.

I think you're right-- no matter how you view her, it cannot be denied that there is a now a "Andrea dwowking shaped hole in the world."

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[info]gonzaloguerrero
2005-04-11 12:59 pm UTC (link)
I'm really shocked that her death didn't make the new york times obits.

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[info]cookieavalanche
2005-04-11 03:50 pm UTC (link)
It's not very public yet (see thread above). I think it will gradually come out this week in various media.

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[info]gonzaloguerrero
2005-04-11 04:09 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, there is a whole debate about it on wikipedia (went there after I commented above), but I think that they've finally come to the conclusion that she has, in fact, passed.

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[info]lordlucan
2005-04-15 05:58 pm UTC (link)
She got half a page in the Dominion Post down here.

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[info]athena25
2005-04-11 05:40 pm UTC (link)
It is unfortunate that there hasn't been as much attention drawn to her death as, say a rather nauseating royal wedding I could mention (8 pages in the Daily Express. 8!)

I had massive issues with pretty much every word that came out of her mouth, but she stood up for what she believed in, provoked a lot of debate and added a fire to feminist issues that had been on a back burner in our caring sharing 90s mood.

I just wonder what her legacy will be when the dust has settled?

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[info]theshockwasfast
2005-04-11 06:06 pm UTC (link)
the guardian has it here, but i've yet to see it on any other site (i went on yahoo news too and all they linked was the guardian article).

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Just an update...
[info]everwatcher
2005-04-11 09:10 pm UTC (link)
As of approximately 4:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time (USA), a Google News check was quite sparing with word of the death. Its front page had no hint of mention of Andrea Dworkin. A Google News search for "Dworkin" (at the time listed above) indicated one report from the Guardian. The honorable author Susie Bright spun the only other account found in that search; it was posted to InfoShop, which fittingly bills itself as "your source for alternative news, analysis, and opinion". I urge anyone reading this comment to review the linked essay, as Ms. Bright's appreciation of her inspiration's efforts is well worth your time.

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Re: Just an update...
[info]cookieavalanche
2005-04-11 11:00 pm UTC (link)
It's curious that Feminist.com, NOW and other such newsources have not written about it either. I'm wondering why? Is it because her loved ones have not put out an offical statement of her death yet?

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Thanks for the information
[info]djeannot
2005-04-12 03:29 pm UTC (link)
I am saddened by her loss. Thanks for posting this information. I knew I could count on this community to post something extensive about her in a timely fashion.

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