Articles by Robert Jensen
Restless and Relentless Minds: Thinking as a “Species out of Context”
Resilience.org · August, 2021
The stability of the Earth’s ecosystems, and hence the future of the human species, depends on people recognizing and responding to multiple, cascading social and ecological crises that can easily overwhelm our imaginations. We need to cultivate restless and relentless minds to deal with unprecedented analytical questions and moral challenges if we are to go beyond the failed approaches of our current politics. This requires a sense of history deeper than we typically see in current debates. Since the advent of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago, humans have been a “species out of context.” That awareness will help us formulate “questions that go beyond the available answers,” which are necessary if we are to fashion effective responses to the crises. In this presentation, Robert Jensen highlights a half-century of work by one of his elders, Wes Jackson of The Land Institute in Kansas (USA), to suggest approaches to analyzing the threats at this moment in history. This lecture draws on Jensen’s 2021 book, The Restless and Relentless Mind of Wes Jackson: Searching for Sustainability (University Press of Kansas) and a forthcoming book co-written with Jackson.
Making sense of sex and gender: A review of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism
Dissident Voice; Counterpunch · July, 2021
A review of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism by Kathleen Stock.
The Dangers of White Male Supremacy
YES! Magazine · June, 2021
This essay is an expanded version of my review of Ijeoma Oluo’s book _Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America_ that appeared in the magazine’s print edition.
Tough Love for Mediocre White Guys: Getting White men to give up dominance is a challenge
YES! Magazine · May, 2021
A review of Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo
Male violence makes single-sex shelters a necessity
Lewiston Sun Journal · May, 2021
In a democratic society that respects individual rights, conflict is inevitable when rights collide. Such conflict is playing out in a Maine homeless shelter, where women are expected to endure abusive behavior in the name of inclusivity. Women assert their right to seek safety from men’s violence. The transgender movement asserts the right of anyone to self-identify with any gender. We side with women.
Pornographic distortions: The struggle for intimacy in the 21st century
Feminist Current · March, 2021
“Pornographic distortions,” refers both to the ways in which pornography distorts human sexuality, and the way in which pornography’s defenders distort the views of critics.
Getting Radical: Feminism, Patriarchy, and the Sexual-Exploitation Industries
Dignity: A Journal of Sexual Exploitation and Violence · March, 2021
The sexual-exploitation industries, including prostitution and pornography, are patriarchal institutions that are inconsistent with dignity, solidarity, and equality. Radical feminism offers a compelling analysis not only for women but also for men striving to be fully human.
Wes Jackson: How to Respect One’s Tools
Merion West · February, 2021
An edited transcript of Episode 2 of “Podcast from the Prairie.” https://podcastfromtheprairie.com/
‘A simple boy from the prairie’: An interview with Robert Jensen
Feminist Current · February, 2021
When a European graduate student emailed to ask if I would participate in an assignment to “do an interview with one of my favourite authors,” I said yes. My books have not exactly been best-sellers, and so I was an easy target for anyone describing me as a “favourite author.”
From Pornography to Agriculture: Challenging Hierarchy
MerionWest.com · January, 2021
“At the core of this analysis is a claim that, at first glance, may seem to be a stretch: The erosion of human dignity in our broken world starts with the erosion of the planet’s soils.”