Intercourse, by: Andrea Dworkin - Feminish

source of the elegance and strength of her heroism: “The purevessel cannot, in the last analysis, be smashed; nothing can prevailagainst it. ” 28Not a sentimentalist, Joan said at her trialthat those who wished to remove her from this world mightwell themselves go first. 29And, indeed, they all have.We have role models; Joan had voices. Her voices were alwaysaccompanied by a radiance, illumination, an expanse oflight. She saw angels and was visited by saints. Her two specialvoices, guides and consolation, were St. Catherine of Alexandriaand St. Margaret of Antioch. While many of the elaborationson their legends show the iconoclastic individuality of thetwo saints, the main outlines of their lives— the substance oftheir heroism—were virtually identical. Both were desired bypowerful men (heads of state), turned them down, were torturedand decapitated. Both were in mortal combat with malepower, were militant in their opposition to it, did not capitulate,and were killed for resisting. Both were virgins.St. Catherine was the patron saint of unmarried girls andalso of philosophers and students. She was famous for her erudition,one of the rare and great women of learning. Her father,a king, wanted her to be married but she kept turning downsuitors. One night she dreamed that Mary, holding Jesus, askedher if she wanted to be his bride. She said yes, but Jesus turnedher down because she was not a Christian. She got baptized;that night Jesus, surrounded by angels and saints, put a weddingring on her hand. When the Emperor Maxentius orderedall the Christians in Alexandria killed, Catherine went to himto argue for her faith. The Emperor made her debate fifty