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

A Political and Literary Forum

Menu Search
Donate Shop Join

Gender and sexuality

Ideas Matter

Our Identities, Ourselves?

Adhering to a particular sexual or gender identity may mean abandoning the things that make us most unique. So why has identity become the default for talking about who we are and what we desire?

Mark D. Jordan

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

Gender & Sexuality, Politics

From the Editors: The Right to Be Elected

What does gender equity in a democracy look like?

Deborah Chasman, Joshua Cohen

Gender & Sexuality

Mothering in a Pandemic

Society relies on the unpaid, invisible work of parents—mostly mothers—to care for children and to buffer kids from trauma and stress. Supporting that work during COVID-19 requires direct cash support to families.

Anne L. Alstott

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

Gender & Sexuality, Science & Nature

Science Won't Settle Trans Rights

Appeals to the biological facts conceal a deeper contest over political equality—and scientific authority itself.

Anne Fausto-Sterling

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

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