In defense of the medical examination, Mrs.

When Dworkin’s account was published, citizens demanded an investigation of the Women’s House of Detention that was for “yet another time in its nefarious history, under fire.”

She was then made to get on the table while the doctor examined her stomach and breasts, the doctor inserted his hand in both her rectum and vagina, and used forceps “brutally applied to the vagina.” After repeatedly inquiring further about the nature of the examination, the doctors said it was “nothing.” The doctors repeatedly wanted to know how many virgins were at Bennington College and how many of the freshmen were virgins. Recalling the encounter, Dworkin stated that she was told she was sent to be examined for venereal disease. She spent “4 days and nights in the filth and terror of that jail,” where she was given a brutal sexual internal examination by the prison doctors. Dworkin describes the terrible conditions inside the prison, the inhumane treatment of the women, and the overall violations taking place within. Dworkin’s account is detailed in the book Hellhole by Sara Harris. On February 19, 1965, at the age of 18, Dworkin, then a freshman at Bennington College, was jailed at the Women’s House of Detention for protesting the Vietnam War at the United States Mission of the United Nations. Her notable works of writing include Woman Hating (1974), Pornography: Men Possessing Women ( 1981), Intercourse (1987), and autobiography, Heartbreak: The Political Memoir of a Feminist Militant (2002). Dworkin likened all forms of pornography to that of incarceration, in that both incited violence among, control of, and abuse against women. She fought against pornography, insisting that women were violently objectified and exploited. Incarcerated at the Women’s House of Detention:Īndrea Dworkin was a noted radical feminist, writer, and political activist who posited that sex was a brutalizing and degrading act.

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