Topics – Society

A philosophical storm has been brewing (in its quiet, Buddhist way) in sanghas, meditation groups, magazine articles and monasteries across the continent. Don Sawyer explores Western Buddhism and Buddhist fundamentalism.

While fighting plans for a mammoth big box store that would devour the small city he calls home, Don Sawyer discovers that a dangerous cult has spread from the heart of darkest Arkansas, jumped the border and brainwashed millions of innocent Canadians into its doctrine of diabolical materialism.

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.

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.

At some point in one’s life, every adult human being is valued for an isolated skill, talent, or personality trait—and compensated summarily. Most of the time, it’s called “gainful employment.” But if you happen to work in the sex industry, it’s often called “objectification”: a loaded term with unpleasant—and sometimes unfair—associations.

Book review

One of the most remarkable progressive figures of the 19th century was a woman named Harriet Tubman.

The Harper Government’s performance at the UN climate change conference in Bali in December certainly didn’t make this country any friends. Alongside Japan and the U.S., our official delegation—which, unprecedentedly, did not include NGOs or opposition politicians—did its utmost to scuttle the world’s last, best hope for averting extreme climate change, and only bowed to global consensus on a watered-down agreement in the face of concerted domestic and international pressure.

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.