March/April 2008: Life beyond the sexual binary

In this issue, Briarpatch embarks on a decidedly anti-essentialist exploration of gender politics, covering everything from feminist homeschooling to feminist porn to partiarchy’s harmful effects on men’s health. Grounding our analysis in a revolutionary feminist approach that seeks to involve people from across the gender spectrum in this discussion, this issue challenges all our readers to take responsibility for their gender politics.

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By Dave Oswald Mitchell
Briarpatch Magazine
March/April 2008

Planning and producing the gender issue each year has to be one of the most challenging and most enjoyable parts of my job. Of course, Briarpatch always seeks to connect theory and practice in its coverage, but in my experience, there is no issue that is at once so theoretical and so practical, so simultaneously personal and political, as gender. Grappling with that complexity is what I find so challenging and so enjoyable.

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Feminist home-schoolers are creating new ways of living and learning

By Becky Ellis
Briarpatch Magazine
March/April 2008

I am a feminist. In fact, most people who know me would say that feminism informs practically everything I do: what I read, how I relate to people, what forms of political action I undertake-everything, some might say, except my decision to home-school my children.

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By Barbara Barker & Tyler McCreary
Briarpatch Magazine
March/April 2008

In June 2007, following generations of non-recognition, and 16 years of intensely personal battles with bureaucrats, governments, and the justice system, Sharon McIvor, a member of the Lower Nicola First Nation, successfully challenged sex discrimination in the Indian Act in British Columbia’s Supreme Court.

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An interview with Chanelle Gallant, founder of the Feminist Porn Awards

By Nikko Snyder
Briarpatch Magazine
March/April 2008

When I first learned of the Feminist Porn Awards, I wasn’t surprised to discover that Good For Her was behind them. An independently owned and operated sex shop in Toronto, Good For Her’s feminism is as explicit as its inventory, so it seemed fitting that they were the ones to spearhead an annual awards ceremony celebrating filmmakers intent on subverting mainstream pornography.

But, I kept wondering, what on earth is feminist porn, anyway? In an effort to answer that question, I tracked down Chanelle Gallant, the former manager of Good For Her and founder of the Feminist Porn Awards. A past sex columnist for Chatelaine and an unapologetic pro-sex and pro-sex-worker feminist, Chanelle is currently in Southeast Asia writing about issues facing sex workers internationally. Before she left, I called her up to discuss what, if anything, allows feminism and porn to coexist.

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By Calvin Sandborn
Illustrations by Daryl Vocat
Briarpatch Magazine
March/April 2008

Men’s social conditioning takes a tremendous toll on not just their relationships, but also on their health. Those who want this to change, Calvin Sandborn argues, will have to come to terms with the concept of patriarchy-and with their own emotions.

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By Nikko Snyder
Briarpatch Magazine
March/April 2008

Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity
By Robert Jensen
South End Press, 2007

In Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity, Robert Jensen asks readers to look unflinchingly at contemporary, mainstream, heterosexual pornography and reflect honestly on what it says about the culture we live in. Jensen argues that porn represents a masculinity so toxic that conforming to it requires men to sacrifice their very humanity. He points out that as mainstream pornography has become more degrading towards women, it has simultaneously become increasingly normalized in our society, a paradox that leads to his conclusion that we live in a “rape culture.” He is careful to clarify, “That doesn’t mean the culture openly endorses rape, but it does endorse a vision of masculinity that makes rape inviting.”

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