Thinking In a Pandemic | Boston Review
Become a Member | Boston Review

A Political and Literary Forum

Menu Search
Donate Shop Join

Gender & Sexuality, Politics

Without Women There Is No Democracy

On the hundreth anniversary of suffrage, it’s time for gender equity in political office.

Jennifer M. Piscopo, Shauna L. Shames

Read More

Gender & Sexuality

Gender & Sexuality

Secularism’s Saints

Two recent books about Mormon women highlight the success of the church in redefining itself as a modern liberal religion. But to become that, the Latter-day Saints dramatically reworked both their theology and history.

Peter Coviello

Gender & Sexuality, Law & Justice

‘Flexible’ Family Leave Is Lousy Feminism

Balancing work-life pressures is often considered the holy grail, but men can still opt out of these policies. To move the needle on gender inequality, the state needs to take more coercive action. 

Gina Schouten

Gender & Sexuality

What’s Wrong with Queer History?

In our search for a useful past, we need to be careful whom we name as the heroes of queer history.

Samuel Clowes Huneke

Gender & Sexuality, Reading Lists

Stonewall At Fifty

A gay liberation reading list. 

Rosie Gillies, Boston Review

Gender & Sexuality

Pleasure and Danger

Linda Hirshman’s new book "Reckoning" poses a false dichotomy between two kinds of feminism: those fighting for sexual liberation and those fighting for equality. We don’t have to give up one for the sake of the other.

Judith Levine

Gender & Sexuality

Is Pete Buttigieg the Face of Stonewall?

The press has crowned Buttigieg the inheritor of Stonewall’s legacy, but this doesn’t square with what we know of Stonewall activists and the world they hoped to create.

Micki McElya

Gender & Sexuality, Science & Nature

Who's Your Daddy?

The meaning of fatherhood remains elusive, even in the age of DNA-based paternity testing.

Nara Milanich

Gender & Sexuality, Reading Lists

Sex Work Is Work

—and why consent isn’t the same thing as good sex. An International Whores Day reading list.

Rosie Gillies, Boston Review

Gender & Sexuality

Toward a Democratic Hedonism

Debate over Title IX affirmative consent standards has assumed that consent is the best basis for a feminist sexual politics. But what if it isn’t?

Joseph J. Fischel

Gender & Sexuality, Reading Lists

Abortion’s Past and Future

“I was a teenager back then, pregnant and desperate. Too terrified to make the midnight trip to the back alley.”

Matt Lord, Boston Review

Gender & Sexuality

Gay Liberation Behind the Iron Curtain

A gay golden age in East Germany reveals that Soviet politics were more dynamic than we admit—and that gay rights has less to do with democracy than we tend to assume.

Samuel Clowes Huneke

Arts in Society, Gender & Sexuality

“More Queer Writing, Please”

Andrea Lawlor’s Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl is being celebrated as the vanguard of a new trans lit. In this interview, Lawlor talks about Paul’s origins, trans identity, and the future of queer literature.

Andrea Lawlor, Spencer Quong

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox

Love Boston Review?

Then you’ll love our new membership program! Join us to support engaged discussion on critical issues. You’ll also enjoy exclusive membership benefits.
Get Started

Copyright © 1993-2020 Boston Review and its authors.

Support Boston Review

Become a Member

Make a tax-deductible donation today

Boston Review Printing Note: For best printing results try turning on any options your web browser's print dialog makes available for printing backgrounds and background graphics.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

Get Our Weekly Emails

Confronting the challenges of this moment demands all the moral and deliberative clarity we can muster. While much remains uncertain, Boston Review’s responsibility to public reason is sure. Sign up for our newsletter and don’t miss a thing. 

THINKING IN A PANDEMIC

Donate Today