Articles by Robert Jensen
Teaching Students to Think for Themselves Is Never Apolitical
Merion West · January, 2026
Robert Jensen considers how educators should handle contentious politics in the classroom, from the Iraq War to more recent U.S. actions involving Venezuela. He argues that honest disclosure of one’s interpretive framework is essential to teaching students to think critically.
How to Be a Good Man
Julie Bindel Substack · December, 2025
If you want to be a good man, do your best to be a good person.
Pornography, Hate Speech, and the Inconsistencies of the Left
Julie Bindel Substack · November, 2025
This essay is adapted from It’s Debatable: Talking Authentically about Tricky Topics, published by Olive Branch Press. https://robertwjensen.org/books/its-debatable/
Who’s to Blame? Political Action, Personal Accountability, and Human Nature
Dissident Voice · October, 2025
Our species seems unable to maintain large-scale societies that are consistent with basic human dignity and a sustainable human presence on the planet. Robert Jensen suggests that our best hope at managing the fraying of social and ecological systems is not only to engage in political action to challenge abuses of wealth and power but also to face the impediments to living within ecological limits. That requires us to engage in critical self-reflection, individually and collectively, while taking seriously the biological and historical forces outside anyone’s control.
Teaching the Transgender Debate: Journalism, Academic Freedom, and Responsible Reporting
LA Progressive · October, 2025
The debate over transgender identity and ideology would make a great lesson in covering controversial social issues, an important part of the job of journalism instructors. Such teaching wouldn’t be advocacy, except perhaps advocacy for the clear thinking necessary for good journalism.
The Freedom to Teach about Freedom
Heterodoxy in the Stacks · September, 2025
I wonder what my fate would be if I were in the classroom in the era of Trump’s targeting of higher education.
Why Are Men so Obsessed with Pornography? Andrea Dworkin Was Right
Julie Bindel Substack · July, 2025
A version of this essay was presented to the National Organization for Men Against Sexism’s 50th anniversary conference on July 17, 2025.
Academic Freedom under Attack: From the Government but also from Within
Heterodoxy in the Stacks · April, 2025
This essay is adapted from his book It’s Debatable: Talking Authentically about Tricky Topics from Olive Branch Press.
A Different “Abundance Agenda”: Avoiding Delusions and Diversions
LA Progressive · March, 2025
The foundational problem is overshoot: There are too many people consuming too much in the aggregate.
Understanding Biology ≠ Biological Essentialism
Julie Bindel Substack · February, 2025
Accepting the realities of the biology of sex is not essentialist.
Feminism Is Freedom for Men: Pornography and Sexuality
Julie Bindel Substack · November, 2024
A version of this essay was presented in the “Pornography and Society” lecture series at RheinMain University in Wiesbaden, Germany, on November 21, 202
Controversy in Intellectual/Political Life: An Interview with Robert Jensen
In-sight Publishing · November, 2024
In this interview, Jensen reflects on tensions in contemporary intellectual and political life in the United States.