Pornography: Men Possessing Women, by: Andrea ... - Feminish

are not really distinct because they are applied simultaneously orsequentially in any proportions to any woman in any circumstance.Rather than being “two sides of the same coin, ” the harlotsubmissiveelements are more like the elements in an hourglass:always the same, always present, yet the proportions shift relativeto each other, the shifts being manipulated by the one whomanipulates the hourglass.Havelock Ellis maintained that “. . . the primary part of thefemale in courtship is the playful, yet serious, assumption ofthe role of a hunted animal who lures on the pursuer, not with theobject of escaping, but with the object of being finally caught. ” 23Here her resistance is a form of provocation that enables her tosubmit. Ellis considered “modesty” the single most importantdefining characteristic of the female. In his world view, which is sosignificant because his study is the first modern codification of malesexual values, force is required to conquer modesty: “Force is thefoundation of virility, and its psychic manifestation is courage. Inthe struggle for life violence is the first virtue. The modesty ofwomen—in its primordial form consisting in physical resistance,active or passive, to the assaults of the male—aided selection byputting to the test man’s most important quality, force. Thus it isthat when choosing among rivals for her favors a woman attributesvalue to violence. ” 24 This view of sex exists with or withoutreference to genes, hormones, and the like. It is old and it is new. Itis male. It means that a woman naturally resists force because shewants to be conquered by it. It means that the violence she resists isultimately what she values. It means that she is responsible forgiving violence its sexual value by selecting the violent male. Itdemands that one believe that once the violent male has capturedher, it is she who has selected, she who has made the choice. This isthe fate of the metaphysical victim: to be seen as responsible for theviolence used against her. She wants it, they all do. The violenceused against her is never a measure of her authentic resistance. H erfinal submission is not seen as the triumph of terrorism; it is seen asher nature, her choice—her design all along. The simple, self-