This book is certainly not bedtime reading. It is uncompromising. Unbelievably so. However, despite its polemical nature, the book is of immense value. Indispensable for anyone who wants an alternative side to the pornography debate, Dworkin illustrates with frightening savageness the dark, macabre side of male sexuality. After reading this book, you will never see the world in the same light again. This is no casual platitude. Be prepared - this book is disturbing.
However, this book is not without flaws. As with all her work, Dworkin is too extreme for most readers. Anti pornography sentiments are expressed far more objectively and coherently by Susan Griffin, in "Pornography and silence" and by Catherine Mackinnon in her work. Her ravaging of the male sexuality is actually self defeating; she will alienate many men who might have been convinced by the truths in her arguments. Her work is not backed up by real facts. The causal relationship of pornography and physical violence towards women is logical, but evidence does not actually support this. Also, her concentration on pornography with a violent content takes the focus away from pornography in general.
Nevertheless, it is essential reading to anyone with more than a passing interest in the pornography debate. I don't know if I agree with all she says, but what she has succeeded in doing is to make all who read "Pornography" stop and think about an issue that has gone too long ignored.