Lessening the Damage: Interview with Dorothy Allison

It's more dangerous even than it ever was, and it has always been a dangerous word. The odd thing is, I find myself going back to reading older feminist works like Shula Firestone and about what it is to be a woman rebel and to threaten civilization at its core. Civilization is constructed on the backs and the cunts of women. To say that and to say it strongly and forthrightly with your eyes looking into the face of someone else is the most dangerous act. It's why feminism is so scary. Feminism deconstructs the patriarchal world. The thread that runs through all of it is, in fact, a woman standing up and saying, "This is my life. My life is not in your service." And that's always going to be dangerous. I think in mean times, and we are living in mean times, it is the threat that is almost too much for our culture. [Using man's voice] "If the women rebel, oh, we have to deal with that as well?" [Laughs] And to be truthful, many women live a life compromised around fear and it's not always about the fear of violence. I write a lot about the fear of violence, but there's also the fear of law and the fear of contempt. The fear of contempt is enormous for women because it really does destroy us. It's shameful to admit the things we are afraid of, the fear of not being loved, the fear of being isolated. And those are the ways of the feminist.more..