Intercourse, by: Andrea Dworkin - Feminish

thing; one does not have a full humanity but must conform tothe rituals and conventions of debasement as a sexual object.But this reduction of humanity into being an object for sex carrieswith it the power to dominate men because men want theobject and the sex. The rage against women as a group is particularlylocated here: women manipulate men by manipulatingmen’s sexual desire; these trivial, mediocre things (women)have real power over men through sex. Women know, and mendo not want to know, ‘“ that the most exalted poetic love, as wecall it, depends not on moral qualities but on physical nearnessand on the coiffure. . . ” ’49 The immorality of women isstressed: a woman would rather be convicted of any moral outrage—lying,cruelty, dissoluteness—in the presence of a manshe wants than to be seen in an ugly dress. In this reductionfrom fully human (virgin) to sex object (one who exists to attractmen), women achieve power over men, because womenknow “ ‘that we are continually lying about high sentiments,but really only want her body. . . ” ’50This dominance of menby women is experienced by the men as real—emotionally real,sexually real, psychologically real; it emerges as the reason forthe wrath of the misogynist. The whole world suffers, says thekiller/husband, from the domination of men by women. Thenarrator points out that all rights, all privileges, all laws, are onthe side of men and favor men; but the killer/husband, using apernicious analogy, sees that powerlessness generates revenge,and revenge is what women accomplish in the sensuality he experiencesas their dominance, his powerlessness:“ on the one hand woman is reduced to the lowest stage o f humiliation,while on the other hand she dominates. Just like theJews: as they pay us back for their oppression by financial