"The common erotic project of destroying women makes it possible for men to unite into a brotherhood; this project is the only firm and trustworthy groundwork for cooperation among males and all male bonding is based on it"

Andrea Dworkin, a radical feminist writer, highlights how the social subordination of women is not incidental to the formation of male alliances but foundational. The language of an “erotic project” suggests that male desire for dominance over women is deeply ingrained, not only manifesting in acts of violence or exploitation, but infused into the very ways men relate to one another and establish solidarity. Male unity, in this interpretation, emerges not from mutual respect or shared interests in a vacuum, but from a collective investment in the systematic devaluation and objectification of women.

The destruction referenced has both literal and metaphorical components: it points to violence, exclusion, erasure, and psychological degradation. This project’s “commonness” emphasizes its ubiquity across cultures and historical moments, positing misogyny as a universality among men that supersedes other differences. It is this shared activity, or even aspiration, that acts as the “trustworthy groundwork” for male cooperation. Dworkin implies that other efforts at male bonding, whether through sports, work, or military engagement, are underpinned by a tacit or explicit understanding that women’s lesser status will not be challenged within these interactions.

Consequently, male bonding is exposed not as a neutral or benign phenomenon, but as one built upon exclusion and dominance. For Dworkin, the brotherhood among men finds its cement in the collective agreement, conscious or unconscious, to maintain women’s powerlessness. Solidarity is not just about men connecting with each other, but about what those connections do: they reinforce a gender hierarchy. Thus, to challenge male bonding at its root, one must confront the ways in which misogyny is normalized and made the core of male identity and cooperation. Dworkin’s analysis invites a critical examination of everyday male interactions and the systems of power they sustain, insisting on the need for new forms of unity that reject this destructive foundation.