Stephen E Philion wrote:
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> I'm not sure, I take feminism seriously, but not Dowrkin's feminism.
> Katha Pollit, Joanna Brenner, Margaret Randall, Lise Vogel, I think are
> pretty serious feminists and not Dworkinites.
> However, I don't deny that the charge can be thrown out with little
> reference, much like the appelation of "stalinist" for the sake of silencing debate.
>
Steve, usually you catch analogies quicker than this. Almost certainly Pollit and the other women you name have been called "Dworkinites." It has nothing whatever to do with either their or Dworkin's actual principles. One definition of "Dworkinite" would be, "Any woman or man who believes in the real existence of sexual harassment." You've seen the bizarre definitions of "Leninist" which have currency on this list. There are circles where Dennis P would be called a stalinist. And certainly Doug Henwood would be included by many among those "smug leftists" Yoshie mentions. That's one of the reasons opportunism is seldom opportune: No one gets any credit for their effort to "reach" the unreachable.
Carrol