The Demon Lover: On the Sexuality of Terrorism

Despite its overlay of rhetoric, Morgan's challenging feminist analysis brings a startling perspective to terrorism, which she sees as arising out of patriarchal societies' emphasis on power, control, domination and violence. In her definition, left-wing urban guerrillas, CIA dirty tricks, the Contras, white supremacist groups, nation a list resistance movements and the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima are all terrorist acts. She traces the seeds of terrorism to the mythic herowarrior, god-king, liberatorwho glorifies vengeance. Moving into modern times, Morgan ( Sisterhood Is Global , etc.) detects a sexual component in man's penchant for violent means, and she draws on works by Henry James, Graham Greene, Doris Lessing and Marge show more Piercy for support. On a more personal note, she analyzes "token terrorist" women and considers herself to have been one in the late '60s. She also interviews women in Palestinian refugee camps and includes a 1978 prison talk with Patti Hearst. Morgan ends by calling for a politics of eros, of fierce tenderness, connectivity and caring.

The poet/political activist who produced the ground-breaking Sisterhood Is Global ( LJ 11/15/84), The Anatomy of Freedom ( LJ 11/15/82), etc., has written the first feminist treatise on terrorism. Here she raises questions other authors have avoided: Why are most terrorists men? Why do terrorist acts primarily victimize women and children? What is the relationship of terrorism to the patriarchal state, to the mythic hero, to messianic religion? show less