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Gender and sexuality

Race

The Radical Lives of Abolitionists

History has tended to sanitize the lives of abolitionists, many of whom were involved in other radical movements as well, including Free Love, which promoted women’s independence and an end to traditional marriage.

Britt Rusert

Law & Justice

Halloween and Stranger Danger

Bizarre restrictions are levied against people on the sex offense registry on Halloween. But do they actually make children safer or simply reveal what we fear?

Christine Hume

Philosophy & Religion

The Critical Bite of Cultural Relativism

The pioneers of cultural anthropology taught not just how to study other cultures, but how to criticize their own.

Gili Kliger

Arts in Society

The Origins of Sexual Healing

Grammy winner David Ritz, who cowrote Marvin Gaye’s legendary “Sexual Healing,” recalls how the song emerged from Gaye’s struggles with faith, drug addiction, and childhood abuse.

David Ritz

Gender & Sexuality, Reading Lists

Stonewall At Fifty

A gay liberation reading list. 

Rosie Gillies, Boston Review

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, 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

Reading Lists

Trans Mothers. Marxist Mothers. Robot Mothers.

—and those who wish they could be mothers. A reading list for Mother’s Day.

Rosie Gillies, Boston Review

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

Gender & Sexuality

Finally Seeing Andrea

Andrea Dworkin is remembered for saying that all sex is rape—even though she never said that. A new collection reintroduces the radical feminist to the next generation of “nasty women.”

Jeremy Lybarger

Gender & Sexuality

Every Woman Is a Working Woman

Silvia Federici interviewed by Jill Richards. 

Silvia Federici, Jill Richards

Gender & Sexuality

A History of Cyborg Sex, 2018–73

How sex with robots became safer—and better—than sex with actual men.

Cathy O'Neil

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