The tension between the title and the content mirrors the increasing tension between the things Dworkin loudly and proudly stood for, and the way in which she is slowly morphing into an acceptable emblem of a (supposedly) long-dead brand of feminism. It therefore seems strange to present a book that is ostensibly honouring her work, with a title she ultimately rejected ― one that currently serves mostly as online click-bait. We learn that “Hot Slit” is what Dworkin had considered calling the text that would one day become her 1974 feminist classic, Woman Hating.
There are several references to (and even the publication of) private letters in the collection and it is from this private correspondence that the book takes its title. It is because we believe in your humanity, against all the evidence. Have you ever wondered why we are not just in armed combat against you? It’s not because there’s a shortage of kitchen knives in this country. It contains a great mix of pieces from across her career including, my personal favourite, the blistering, “I Want a Twenty-Four-Hour Truce During Which There Is No Rape” ― an address to a room of 500 men: The recent reassessment of Dworkin’s work has, in part, been prompted by the release of a new collection, titled Last Days at Hot Slit. And, today, when radical feminist analysis is shunned in the academy, and radical feminist activists are increasingly no-platformed from public events, it is perplexing to find the work of such a prominent radical feminist thinker being reconsidered in relatively positive terms. So it makes perfect sense that Dworkin’s work is seen as especially apt, given she spent the best part of her life fighting white-supremacist, capitalist patriarchy.īut the vision of revolutionary change that Dworkin so passionately advocated for was largely derided ― including by other, usually liberal or libertarian, feminists ― while she was alive. The patriarchal nature of right-wing authoritarianism is troubling political analysts. Misogynoir, and the intersections of racism and sexism, are hot topics in pop culture. The #MeToo movement and men’s violence against women are making international headlines. With feminism back in fashion, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising to see Andrea Dworkin’s name being bandied about again.
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