Articles by Robert Jensen
When Will the United States Transcend White Supremacy?
CommonDreams · August, 2017
Now that the violence in Charlottesville has forced “white supremacy” into our political vocabulary, let’s ask an uncomfortable question: “When will the United States transcend white supremacy?”
Eating Responsibly
Edible Austin, July/August, 2017 · July, 2017
A young friend recently stopped by my house as I was cooking dinner—a favorite rice-and-greens dish that is simple, cheap, tasty and nutritious. I’d just started sautéing the onions and garlic in some olive oil. My friend watched for a moment then said, with inappropriate reverence, “I don’t know how you do that.” “How I do what?” I thought. Cut up an onion, slice a clove of garlic, pour some oil and turn on a burner? It’s not exactly painting a masterpiece or performing brain surgery. I likely would have made fun of my friend if not for the fact that, at one point in my life, I would have found sautéing onions and garlic exotic, as well.
How radicals are offering realistic solutions to our spiraling political problems
Dallas Morning News · June, 2017
Students will sometimes ask me — often hesitantly, out of fear of offending — if it’s true what they’ve heard, that I’m a liberal.
“Don’t you ever call me a liberal again,” I tell them, feigning outrage. “I’m a leftist and a radical feminist.” Once they realize I’m not angry, I explain the important differences between left and liberal.
Beyond ‘No’ and the Limits of ‘Yes’: A Review of Naomi Klein’s ‘No Is Not Enough’
Resilience.org · June, 2017
In her new book, No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need, Klein reminds us to pay attention not only to the style in which Trump governs (a multi-ring circus so routinely corrupt and corrosive that anti-democratic practices seem normal) but in whose interests he governs (the wealthy, those he believes to be the rightful winners in the capitalist cage match), while recognizing the historical forces that make his administration possible (decades of market-fundamentalist/neoliberal rejection of the idea of a collective good).
The Case for Truth Seeking (No Matter How Messy)
YES! Magazine · June, 2017
Why We Are Driven to Search for the Truth
It’s something we struggle to see more clearly, to realize day to day, to make more real in our lives. And that’s always messy business.
Robert Jensen on Millennial men, climate change, and the increasing need for radical politics
Feminist Current · June, 2017
Can We Talk? How Dogma Degrades Democracy
Counterpunch · June, 2017
“There’s a disagreement in the planning group, about inviting you,” an organizer told me, hesitantly, during a phone call this spring to finalize the details of my speaking slot in a “diversity-and-inclusion” event.
I sighed and prepared to respond, knowing that the objection to my participation likely had to do either with my writing after September 11, 2001, that was critical of the U.S. empire or more recent essays challenging the ideology of the transgender movement from a radical feminist position.
‘Real men’ talk: Interviews between Robert Jensen and Barry Doak
Nation of Change · May, 2017
As radical feminists/male allies/men we need to take control of the conversation on issues like prostitution, pornography and toxic masculinity.
Beyond Liberal Pieties: the Radical Challenge for Journalism
CounterPunch · May, 2017
Many liberals and leftists criticized the New York Times last month for giving right-wing ideologue Bret Stephens a piece of the most valuable real estate in U.S. journalism, a regular spot on its op-ed page.
‘It’s just porn’: Coming to terms with a sexually corrosive culture
Conatus News (UK) · February, 2017
Although the most compelling critiques of pornography over the past four decades have been articulated by radical feminists, many young people—including women—assume that challenges to the pornographic culture come only from conservative and/or religious perspectives. As a result, secular and liberal folks often assume that they must endorse porn to be cool.
“Sex work” or “prostitution”? Language choices reveal views on male dominance
Conatus News (UK) · February, 2017
The terms to describe the buying and selling of bodies for sex in the modern world convey much about the underlying ideological debate going on in the culture, and within feminism.
Listening to golf banter taught us teenage caddies that it’s OK to objectify women
Dallas Morning News, January 27, 2017 · January, 2017
Donald Trump comments caught on tape reveal underpinnings of inequality in our society.