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Gender Troubles

Gender Troubles

Emma Austin and Eva Espenshade

Gender Troubles is a podcast dedicated to debunking, demystifying and making accessible the world of academic feminism. Eva and Emma talk through different feminist movements and moments from a critical, leftist lens. Episodes aim to shake up the feminist canon and provide a new spin on feminist history, movements, and icons. Hosted by Emma Austin and Eva Espenshade We are a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/gender_troubles

  • 33 minutes 38 seconds
    We're back!

    Life has been busy but we came out of hibernation to release this fall reading list! We'll be back in a few weeks with more episodes.


    Show notes:

    Books-

    Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, by Andrea Lawlor

    How to do Nothing, by Jenny Odell

    Females, by Andrea Long Chu

    Once and Future Feminist, edited by Merve Emre

    A Certain Hunger, by Chelsea G. Summers

    Podcasts-

    Novara FM 

    You're Wrong About - Online Shopping 

    Articles of Interest

    TV Shows-

    I May Destroy You, written/directed by Michaela Coel

    All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, directed by Laura Poitras

    12 November 2022, 2:01 pm
  • 1 hour 16 minutes
    Porn Futures: An Interview with Maggie MacDonald

    In the FINAL episode of porn month, we interview Maggie MacDonald, a 4th year PhD student who studies the platformization of porn. We talk porn platforms, deepfakes, and anti-sex work policy in Canada. 

    To read all the articles discussed in this episode, head to Maggie's website: https://www.internetmaggie.com

    Check out the Maggie's Toronto Sex Work Action Project here: https://www.maggiesto.org


    Gender Troubles will be taking a little break over the summer to rest and write more great episodes! Thanks for listening and we'll be back in September with lots more content <3

    15 June 2022, 1:56 pm
  • 58 minutes 46 seconds
    The Sex Wars

    Emma and Eva talk about the sex wars (also known as the porn wars), a time in the 1980s when debates on sexuality, pornography and kink dominated the feminist conversation. 

    Follow us on social media: Instagram Twitter Facebook

    We are a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network

    reading list:

    Diary of a Conference on Sexuality 

    Pleasure and danger : exploring female sexuality (Gayle Rubin's "Thinking Sex" starts on page 267)

    Against Sadomasochism: A Radical Feminist Analysis

    Off our backs, "towards a politics of sexuality"

    Juggling : a memoir of work, family, and feminism

    Explanation of the Dworkin-MacKinnon Ordinance

    Dworkin's "Against the Male Flood" and MacKinnon's "Only Words

    29 May 2022, 10:00 am
  • 47 minutes 43 seconds
    The History of Porn

    From Pompeii to Pornhub, Eva & Emma discuss the long history of porn.


    Show notes:

    https://www.filmsite.org/sexinfilms1.html

    https://www.proquest.com/openview/31a0431f5269893f8a5632a062bf0a46/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750

    https://susannapaasonen.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/01pornification23-32.pdf

    https://monoskop.org/images/e/e7/Williams_Linda_Hard_Core_Power_Pleasure_and_the_Frenzy_of_the_Visible.pdf

    https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/how-the-internet-changed-porn-201674/

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/30/internet-porn-says-more-about-ourselves-than-technology

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2021/06/16/the-shady-secret-history-of-onlyfans-billionaire-owner/?sh=1b1496085c17

    Staying power: The mainstreaming of the hard -core pornographic film industry, 1969–1990 Johnson, Stephen Patrick. University of Maryland, College Park ProQuest Dissertations Publishing,  2009. 3359387.

    https://archive.org/details/historyofpornogr0000unse/page/2/mode/1up?view=theater

    Pornography: A Secret History of Civilisation. TV Mini Series. 1999. 

    19 May 2022, 2:59 pm
  • 58 minutes 28 seconds
    Gender Troubles x Pullback: The Ethical Consumption of Porn

    We kick off Porn Month with a conversation with Kyla Hewson and Kristen Pue, of the podcast Pullback! Pullback investigates the ethical issues behind everyday goods and services. Kyla and Kristen help us work through the issues around the ethical consumption of pornography. What does it look like to be an ethical porn consumer? What are the best ways to directly support porn creators? Is OnlyFans like farm-to-table cuisine? Listen now to find out. 

    You can find Pullback here and follow them on Instagram Twitter Facebook 

    The book we discuss, "Porn Work: Sex, Labor and Late Capitalism" can be found here 

    Follow us on social media: Instagram Twitter Facebook

    Support us on Patreon

    We are a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network


    10 May 2022, 10:00 am
  • 38 minutes 58 seconds
    Roe v. Wade

    This episode, we talk through our thoughts about the leaked Supreme Court draft decision on Roe v. Wade. 

    Readings and Recommendations 

    Interrupting Criminalization, Abortion Decriminalization is Part of the Larger Struggle Against Policing and Criminalization

    Reproaction, Understanding and Advocating for Self-Managed Abortion

    Plan C, A Guide to Abortion Pills Online 

    Evan Greer, digital security thread 

    Caroline Duble, resource thread 

    Melissa Gira Grant, The Real Fight for Abortion Rights Is Not in the Courts or Congress

    Jenny Brown, Without Apology: The Abortion Struggle Now (free ebook) 

    Science Vs, The Abortion Underground 

    5-4 Podcast, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health: The End of Roe

    K. Adetoyin, No More Coat Hanger Imagery tiktok 

    Some lists of Abortion Funds: here, here, here, and here 

    7 May 2022, 10:00 am
  • 48 minutes 4 seconds
    Surrogacy

    This week, Eva and Emma talk about surrogacy. They discuss different feminist perspectives on the topic and consider how we can expand the definitions of "parenthood" and "family" beyond the nuclear model. 

    Follow us on social media: Instagram Twitter Facebook

    Support us on Patreon

    We are a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network


    READING LIST:

    Anita L. Allen, "The Black Surrogate Mother"

    Elizabeth S. Scott, "Surrogacy and the Politics of Commodification"

    Radiolab, "Birthstory" 

    Angela Davis, "Surrogates and Outcast Mothers: Racism and Reproductive Politics in the Nineties"

    Katherine B. Lieber, "Selling the Womb: Can the Feminist Critique of Surrogacy Be Answered?"

    Barbara Katz Rothman, "Reproductive Technologies and Surrogacy: A Feminist Perspective"

    Sophie Lewis, "Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family" \

    Sophie Lewis, "What is Family Abolition?" 

    "Baby M" Surrogate Mother who fought for custody, video

    Cover image: Louise Bourgeois, "The Family" (2007)

    20 April 2022, 11:00 am
  • 37 minutes 13 seconds
    Postmodern Feminism

    What's postmodern feminism? In this episode we desperately try to answer that question!


    Show notes:

    "Explainer: What is Postmodernism" by David Palmer, 2014

    Artland "What is Dadaism?"

    "On Judith Butler & Performativity" by Sarah Salih, 2007 

    Feminist thought : a comprehensive introduction" by Rosemarie Tong, 1989

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 3. Feminist Postmodernism 

    Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, 1999.

    5 April 2022, 1:00 pm
  • 36 minutes 34 seconds
    The Male Gaze

    Eva and Emma talk about the male gaze, from its origins in feminist film criticism to how the concept gets used today. They also discuss what is often left out from the discourses around the male gaze... (hint: it's capitalism) and also get interrupted by Emma's lovey, loud cat!

    Follow us on social media: Instagram Twitter Facebook

    Support us on Patreon

    We are a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network

    READING LIST:

    Big Mama, tiktok 

    Issues in Feminist Film Criticism (includes 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema' and 'Women and Representation') 

    Janell Hobson, 'Viewing in the Dark: Toward a Black Feminist Approach to Film'

    Caroline Evans and Lorraine Gamman, 'The Gaze Revisited, or Reviewing Queer Viewing'

    John Berger, 'Ways of Seeing' show and book 

    Laura Mulvey, 'Afterthoughts on ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’'

    Guerrilla Girls, archive 

    San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 'The Female Gaze' video series 

    Molly Moss, 'thoughts on a queer gaze'

    Eliza McDonough, 'Radical Queer Gazes'

    11 March 2022, 11:00 am
  • 34 minutes 59 seconds
    Gender Discrimination &amp; The Indian Act

    In this episode, Eva & Emma discuss the history of gender discrimination within the Canadian Indian Act, and the Indigenous women who have been fighting to overturn this sexism since the 1960's.

    Show notes:

    Indigenous authors and organizations:

    • Settee, Priscilla. “Indigenous Women Charting Local and Global Pathways Forward.” The English Journal, vol. 106, no. 1, National Council of Teachers of English, 2016, pp. 45–50
    • Collaborative Process on Indian Registration, Band Membership, and First Nation Citizenship Fact Sheet, Government of Canada, Mohawk Council of Akwesasne
    • Ontario Native Women's Association, Feathers of Hope
    • Simpson, Audra. Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States. Durham ; London: Duke University Press, 2014. 
    • Gehl, Lynn. 2000. “The Queen and I: Discrimination Against Women.” Canadian Woman Studies/Les Cahiers De La Femme Volume 20, Number 2
    • Borrows, John. 2016. “Unextinguished: Rights And The Indian Act”. University of New Brunswick Law Journal Volume 67.
    • The Indian Act Said What?, Native Women's Association of Canada
    • Ongoing Indian Act Inequity Issues- Enfranchisement & Marital Status, Native Women's Association of Canada
    • Presentation to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs Re: Bill S-3 – An Act to amend the Indian Act (elimination of sex- based inequities in registration) Submitted by Dr. Pamela D. Palmater

    Other sources:

    • Gender discrimination persists in Canada’s Indian Act, United Nations committee rules, APTN National News
    • Bill C-31, Indigenous Foundations, First Nations & Indigenous Studies, UBC
    • https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1467214955663/1572460311596
    • Milloy John. 1991. “The Early Indian Acts: Developmental strategy and constitutional change.” In Sweet Promises: A Reader on Indian-White Relations in Canada, edited by J.R. Miller. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
    • Day, S. (2019). Equal Status for Indigenous Women— Sometime, Not Now : The Indian Act and Bill S-3. Canadian Woman Studies, 33(1-2). Retrieved from https://cws.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/cws/article/view/37770
    • Indian Act Sex Discrimination, Gwen Brodsky
    • Women in Canadian History: Mary Two-Axe Earley, Rise Up Feminist Archive
    22 February 2022, 2:00 pm
  • 46 minutes 27 seconds
    Women and the Temperance Movement

    In the late 1800s, both First-wave feminism and the women-lead Temperance Movement were gaining steam in North America. But why did so many more women join the temperance movement than the suffrage cause? Eva tells Emma about the different strategies both movements used to recruit members, focusing in on the ways christian morality and fears over family safety helped (white, Protestant) women conceive of themselves as political participants. 

    Follow us on social media:
    Instagram
    Twitter
    Facebook

    Support us on Patreon

    We are a proud member of the Harbinger Media Network

    Reading List:

    Sophie Lewis, Shebeen Queens

    Elizabeth K. Churchill, article in The Women’s Journal

    Mother Stewart, Memories of the crusade; a thrilling account of the great uprising of the women of Ohio in 1873, against the liquor crime

    Criminal, ep 73 Carry A. Nation

    Suzanne M. Marilley, Frances Willard and the Feminism of Fear

    The Canadian Encyclopedia, Temperance Movement in Canada

    Frances Willard, Hints and Helps in our Temperance Work

    Jack S. Blocker, Jr., Separate Paths: Suffragists and the Women's Temperance Crusade

    OSU, Woman's Crusade of 1873-74

    Cover Image: "A woman's liquor raid - how the ladies of Fredericktown, O. abolished the traffic of ardent spirits in their town" from The National Police Gazette, Nov. 8 1879


    25 January 2022, 11:00 am
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