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1Dating is simply hell
WEEKEND/JESSICA GREENE
Andrea Dworkin
Radical feminist talks about her fight
against pornography, the plight of women
INTER VIEW
Andrea Dworkin is considered by many feminists to be one of the most
articulate and well researched scholars at the forefront of feminist theory.
Her books include Pornography: "Men Possessing Women," "Women
Hating," "Right Wing Women," and "Intercourse." In a recent campus visit
she spoke about her research on pornography and it's effects. In addition,
Dworkin spoke to Daily News reporter Scott Chaplin.
WEEKEND: Why have you committed your life to ending the
oppression of women?
DWORKIN: Everyone has to decide their own priorities. I have
committed myself to the freedom of women. I don't know why anyone
would have to justify that, we're- talking about more than half of the
world's population, people of every color, ethnicity, historical, and
economic circumstance. I think that men's dominance over women is
related to many other problems that some people would rather see
piecemeal. Men's dominance over women is the "larger picture" and in
every struggle for social justice women have a double burden.
Fundamentally what we are talking about is changing a society so that
women are not looked down upon as a subordinate species of human being.
There are millions of specific ways: we need mandatory arrests for
batterers; we need the anti-pornography ordinances passed; we need women
to be able to prosecute husbands who rape.
W: What has happened with the women's movement since the '60s?
D: The women's movement has changed a lot. When women first began
speaking out, women thought, "this is great, we've discovered our voices."
Women didn't expect the kind of heavy handed retaliation that we got when
we spoke out. The women's movement has become a lot more serious
about issues of power and about confronting male power in this society.
And at the same time, society has become a lot more serious about
suppressing the women's movement. Today's media is a lot less willing to
let people have a look at the movement that really exists.
W: Have you had problems getting your books published?
D: My work has been pretty much blacklisted ever since the anti-
pornography ordinance that Catherine MacKinnon and I wrote for the City
of Minneapolis. Book publishers and pornographers in this country are
very closely aligned. After it was passed, the American Bookseller's
Association, the American Publisher's Association, the American Library
Association all sued the city and sent out endless propaganda to every
bookstore in the country against MacKinnon and myself.
W: How do you feel about separatism in the women's movement?
D: I have never been a separatist. I believe in women organizing together
where it is useful, but I don't see it as a solution to the problem of women
hating. I'm not content to have one coffee house I can go to, one safe
street I can walk down - I want to live in the whole world. My view is
that we solve this problem completely or it is not solved.
W: How do you respond to the accusation that feminists are men haters?
See INTERVIEW, Page 11
When Dante was dreaming up his
nine circles of hell, he forgot dat-
ing. There is no way of getting
around it dating is hell.
We have all been there at least
once in our lives. Once where we
find a person we really like and
want to be with. Once where we
fish a phone number out of the di-
rectory and then, with anxious an-
ticipation, sit down on our beds and
stare at the telephone next to us,
trying to find the courage (usually
found between the chest and
midsection) to dial the seven digits
that will connect us with this per-
son.
Dialing the first three digits are
easy. "7-6-4." There. But as you
punch the fourth and fifth digits
you realize: you are not only asking
this person to the movies. You are,
in essence, asking them to like
you. Nobody likes asking this kind
of question, and the sad reality is a
lot of people would rather not an-
swer it.
"7-6-4...4...5...Oh Jesus, Oh Je-
sus..."
Self doubt creeps in. You dial the
last two digits. You hear a dial
tone, then a voice.
"Hello."
"Hi. Is this..."
OFF THE WALL
From the annals of the
bathrooms at the /half-ass:
Deputize the homeless
Imagine Freud without a penis
We all went down with Elvis'
hips
If it's too loud, you're too
fucking old.
What time is it in your
imagination
We too have been there; we can
still hear the sound of the surf
though we shall land no more.
Damnation undoes pleasure.
Silence = Death
1988, the year they finally
drained the swamps
All we want is freedom
JOH N
SH EA
"4Yes."
"How are you?"
"Good."
"Good..." (long pause)
Your first complete sentence is,
"What are you doing Saturday
night?" And when the person says,
"Nothing" (Yeah!), you almost hit
the roof. Never has the word
"Nothing" meant so much. You
have known rejection before,
smelled it, saw it coming from far
away. And this is not it. You are
still nervous, but you now feel
comfortable enough to ask "Would
you like to go to the movies?"
without the obligatory "It's okay if
you don't want to." It is not neccs-
sary; the person does want to. You
have a date.
As Saturday approaches, you
cannot keep your concentration on
your work. You are only thinking
of the person and how you will
improve on your monosyllabic
performance on the phone.
SKETCpn.RAb
You take extra long looks in the
mirror, examining your face for
fault. You take a few extra minutes
in the morning to make sure your
hair is combed and your shirt is
tucked in.
You have not felt this way in a
long time.
And when Saturday comes, and
the sun goes down, your friends
notice you are looking extra-
ordinarily good this evening.
"Going on a date?" they ask. You
blush. They rag on you. You sneer
and wave your hand at them as you
walk out the door.
You walk to your date's place of
residence. As you reach your desti-
nation, your heart quickens and
your feet slow down. Self doubt
visits you again. "Will I be witty
enough?" you ask yourself. "Will I
pick my nose at an inopportune
time?" DearGodDearGodDearGod....
You approach your date's front
door as if it were a shrine. You bow
your head, close your sweaty palm,
and knock on the door - quietly
and quickly, twice.
After the appropriate six beats
have passed, the door promptly
opens. Your date has spent as much
See SHEA, Page 13
ECZINN
RECORD
Continued from Page 4
irony with "Valerie Loves Me.,
The Davy Jones-like lilt of the
verses clashes not only with the
harshly-screamed chorus, but also
with the fact that Valerie doesn't, in
fact, love him at all ("I can only
hope for a stolen moment of her
thoughts/between the club and all
the drinks she'll buy").
But batting .300 just isn't good
enough in this league. While this
album proves the promise of Lazy
Susan, Circle Sky, and Material Is-
sues, it more convincingly proves
the need for more bands like them.
If CMJ's Class of '88 is what's
going to lead us into the '90s,
we're in for a long decade.
-Jim Poniewozik
Big Dipper
Craps
Homestead
Many people, confronted with a
new album, can't help but ask
"What's NEW about this?" - in
other words, what does this band do
that hasn't been done before? This
attitude is a crock. Nothing is new.
Since the trilobites developed pain
and sexual reproduction about
300,000,000 years ago, all music
has been a variation on these
themes.
And what's so bad about that?
The kc () artistic success isn't do-
ing it f; ct, it's doing it best. Every
memorable plot Shakespeare ever
wrote was ripped off from some
Italian 50 years his predecessor. But
he did it better.
Which brings us to Craps. Al-
most every song on this album re-
calls somebody else. "Meet the
Witch" could well be The Smiths,
had some noble psychoanalyst
nipped Morrisey's -narcissisni and
self-pity in- the bud. Other songs
contain strong nods to Steely Dan,
Wire, and even Big Country a la the
clarion-call guitar riff in "Hey Mr.
Lincoln!" But the band meshes all
these styles into its own style
marked by ringing vocal harmonies
and crisp guitar lines from Bill
Goffrier and Gary Waleik that chase
each other all around the cobbler's
bench on each cut.
But for all their borrowings, what
you don't hear much of on Craps
is what you'd expect to - namely,
The Embarrassment, Dumptruck,
and Volcano Suns, the parent bands
of BD's four members. Craps is a
much more polished, stylized -
almost British-sounding - product
than any of these bands' releases,
sounding smooth to a fault on
songs like "Stardom Because" and
"Ron Klaus Wrecked His House,"
which would probably be 10 times
better live.
Still, Dipper retains enough of
its member's roots to avoid the
overblown excesses of many of its
post-punk counterparts. Craps is as
Big Dipper takes a good idea and makes it better.
tight as a Detroit public school
budget, filled with slick harmonies,
tasty solos, and melodies that end
not a second too late. The only ex-
ception is "Bonnie." a fields-of-
wheat, Ameri-guitar snoozer of the
sort Dumptruck fell prey to at the
end of its career.
Like the photo of a Vegas casino
strip at night that graces the cover,
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PAGE -10
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WEEKEND/DECEMBER 2, 1988
WEEKEND/DECEMBER 2,1988
- - my