The Dog Collar Murders by Barbara Wilson Read Free Book Online
Authors: Barbara Wilson
the issue. Asking that question has become more important for me than simply stating a position on the subject. If I had been asked to do that, to debate the anti-censorship side of the pornography debate, I would not be here today. I simply could not stomach another rehash of the same tired old discussion, even with such an illustrious debater as Loie Marsh. Instead I wish to put to you some questions and come up with some possible answers as to why the issues of pornography and violence against women have become so central.”
No sign of Hadley, though from where I was standing I had a good view of the open door leading to the lobby. It was empty except for a lone monitor looking at her watch. Through the glass doors of the lobby a walkway was visible, leading through trees to the rest of the campus. Under the trees I could just about make out two figures. The one who faced me was Nicky Kay, with a leather jacket covering most of her S/M costume. She was still wearing her dog collar and leash, though, and I shuddered a little to think what the passing Jesuits must be thinking about this conference. The person she was talking to could have been a man or woman wearing a trenchcoat and a cap.
Gracie was warming up to her speech, but it was almost too much effort to listen to it. Compared with Loie, Gracie was low-key and far too rational. Perhaps we’d gotten too used to the chest-thumping evangelism of our favorite feminist speakers, who could make us respond with our hearts, not our heads.
“To many women, male hatred of women seems the only way to account for the fact that pornography seems to be increasing, for the fact of more and more women coming forward with stories of incest in childhood and physical abuse in their relationships with men. The view that supports these facts is based on acceptance of a certain biological interpretation of history—that men have used the penis as a weapon against women to force them into subordination. Anything that contradicts those assumptions—from the election of a government leader like Margaret Thatcher to the vocal presence of lesbian sadomasochists—is simply dismissed as male-identified behavior. Lesbian batterers are male-identified, female executives are male-identified, women in positions of political power are male-identified, women who don’t call themselves feminists are male-identified, and women who don’t agree with the views of the anti-pornography group are male-identified.
“One might reasonably ask, given the long list of women who, though they were born female, grew up female and consider themselves female, are not female-identified, who is female-identified?
“The answer, quite simply, is that you may identify as female if you identify as a victim or if you identify with women who are victims.”
Outside Nicky and the figure in the trenchcoat appeared to be deep in discussion, if not in argument. Probably he was a reporter, lurking around the fringes of the conference. Or maybe he was propositioning Nicky. I saw her put her hands up to the dog collar around her throat; it looked like she was removing it.
“Those of us who disagree with women like Loie Marsh are not Uncle Toms or traitors to our class. We simply disagree.
“We disagree with the premise that there is one root cause for the inequalities of power between women and men and that that cause is male hatred of and sexual violence towards women. We do not say that this culture is not full of hatred towards women’s bodies and violence towards women—to do so would be absurd, when all around us we see evidence of such hatred and violence. But we do not believe that that is the root cause, only one of many factors in the social construction of male/female inequality. Pornography and rape do not explain why there is so little daycare available for boys and girls; they do not explain why women in this country earn between fifty-nine and sixty-three cents for every dollar earned by a man.
No sign of Hadley, though from where I was standing I had a good view of the open door leading to the lobby. It was empty except for a lone monitor looking at her watch. Through the glass doors of the lobby a walkway was visible, leading through trees to the rest of the campus. Under the trees I could just about make out two figures. The one who faced me was Nicky Kay, with a leather jacket covering most of her S/M costume. She was still wearing her dog collar and leash, though, and I shuddered a little to think what the passing Jesuits must be thinking about this conference. The person she was talking to could have been a man or woman wearing a trenchcoat and a cap.
Gracie was warming up to her speech, but it was almost too much effort to listen to it. Compared with Loie, Gracie was low-key and far too rational. Perhaps we’d gotten too used to the chest-thumping evangelism of our favorite feminist speakers, who could make us respond with our hearts, not our heads.
“To many women, male hatred of women seems the only way to account for the fact that pornography seems to be increasing, for the fact of more and more women coming forward with stories of incest in childhood and physical abuse in their relationships with men. The view that supports these facts is based on acceptance of a certain biological interpretation of history—that men have used the penis as a weapon against women to force them into subordination. Anything that contradicts those assumptions—from the election of a government leader like Margaret Thatcher to the vocal presence of lesbian sadomasochists—is simply dismissed as male-identified behavior. Lesbian batterers are male-identified, female executives are male-identified, women in positions of political power are male-identified, women who don’t call themselves feminists are male-identified, and women who don’t agree with the views of the anti-pornography group are male-identified.
“One might reasonably ask, given the long list of women who, though they were born female, grew up female and consider themselves female, are not female-identified, who is female-identified?
“The answer, quite simply, is that you may identify as female if you identify as a victim or if you identify with women who are victims.”
Outside Nicky and the figure in the trenchcoat appeared to be deep in discussion, if not in argument. Probably he was a reporter, lurking around the fringes of the conference. Or maybe he was propositioning Nicky. I saw her put her hands up to the dog collar around her throat; it looked like she was removing it.
“Those of us who disagree with women like Loie Marsh are not Uncle Toms or traitors to our class. We simply disagree.
“We disagree with the premise that there is one root cause for the inequalities of power between women and men and that that cause is male hatred of and sexual violence towards women. We do not say that this culture is not full of hatred towards women’s bodies and violence towards women—to do so would be absurd, when all around us we see evidence of such hatred and violence. But we do not believe that that is the root cause, only one of many factors in the social construction of male/female inequality. Pornography and rape do not explain why there is so little daycare available for boys and girls; they do not explain why women in this country earn between fifty-nine and sixty-three cents for every dollar earned by a man.