Identity and Sexual Transfiguration: Toward an Alternative Reading of Andrea Dworkin’s Thought

Abstract

In this article we offer an alternative reading of the thought of radical feminist Andrea Dworkin, through an analysis of the book Intercourse. It is true that her considerations on sexuality can be interpreted as essentialist, given the celebrated phrase attributed to Dworkin that all sex is rape, presumably canceling out any emancipatory practice related to sexuality. However, this interpretation risks reducing the complexity of the author's thought, insofar as it is possible to find another interpretive key that emphasizes both a critique of the violence of patriarchal sexuality and an ethical practice that opens the possibility of a transfiguration of the forms of sex. Thus, first, we address Dworkin's critique of the concept of identity, insofar as it perpetuates forms of sexuality that entail a dehumanization of the body. Second, we explain in what sense Dworkin's treatment of the concept of identity can signify an ethical opening to singularity, understood as the opportunity for self-reflection on the experienced forms of sexuality and the possibility that arises therefrom of a transfiguration capable of rehumanizing them.