VOL 7, ISSUE 2 SPRING 2013 Fifty Shades of Sex, Gender and Politics The Kids are Alright? “The kids are ther in the book review of take a community to raise your al right”. While “The End of Men” by Kathryn kid and why the government a popular ti tl e Marshall, who points out how won’t do anything about it. of a 2010 mov­ Rosin’s book argues that women All the while, the crumbling ie where the have a newfound power and children of les­ control in their sexual lives institution of marriage, subject bian moth ers, where they are free to date and to ever declining enrolment, was con ceived by artificial in sem­ “hook up” without the pressure opened up to homosexual men ination, bring their father into of being nailed down to the and women in Canada and most their family life, the kids may be institution of marriage or a recently in New Zealand. Many anything but alright today. News relationship even. argue, including Simon Fraser of Rehtaeh Parsons’ suicide The same feminist move­ University professor Doug Allen after an alleged gang rape and ments of the 1960s that Mar­ in this issue, that same sex the ongoing harassment at the shall’s book review explores, marriage has changed the legal finger tips of kids her age as which pushed women out of the and social meaning of marriage they texted unflattering photos home and into the workplace, in ways never anticipated. The of her around the community, which has contributed in part results for Allen demonstrate following on the heels as it was to the breakdown in teenager that the children of same sex of other well publicized similar morality as Barbara Kay international incidents, seems to marriages are not doing as would no doubt argue, is being well in terms of education as suggest something is afoul. institutionalized in law. children of opposite sex married In this issue, Barbara Kay, Lawyer Derek James From parents. It may very well be weekly columnist for the explores a recent seminal court Nat ional Post newspaper, time to revisit the “one size decision that is lock step in line fits all” notion of marriage and argues that, “It is an infallible with the prevailing attitude that allow marriages of the same sex rule of human nature that family and child rearing are variety to evolve on their own appetites ungoverned by mor­ responsibilities of society and al boundaries will feed on not those of families themselves. terms. themselves and metastasize Now, women (and men) have In this issue of C2C journal, all uncontrollably”. The result a right to a job that fit the time of these issues and others, are may very well be, among other constraints of their personal on the table. Even for the most things, the pervasiveness of family lives, while employers pornography and the hook­up liberal of readers, it promises to and co­workers are expected to make you question whether in culture on university and college shoulder some of the burden of fact the kids are alright? campuses that we hear so much what was previously seen to be about lately and that is reflected the responsibility of individual in the popular culture of today. families themselves. In short, Chris Schafer, This theme is explored fur­ From explores why it shouldn’t C2C Journal Issue Editor C2C Journal’s editorial board: Media Inquiries Patrick Callaghan, Adam Daifallah, Sylvia LeRoy, Mark Milke, Mark Milke Email: [email protected] Andrea Mrozek, Joseph Quesnel, and Chris Schafer. © Copyright 2013. Canadian Journal of Ideas Inc. All Rights Reserved. For permission to reproduce an article, please contact the editors. Canadian Journal of Ideas Inc. the editors, or the advisory board members. Website: www.c2cjournal.ca The views expressed in C2C do not necessarily reflect those of C2C, Editor of this issue: Chris Schafer Email: [email protected] Associate Editor: Kathleen Welsch 2 Volume 7, Issue 2 Contents _ Spring 2013 Same-sex marriage and Disneyesque fantasies .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 by Doug Allen Same sex marriage has changed the legal and social meaning of marriage in ways never anticipated. Almost eight years after the introduction of same sex marriage in Canada we now know that i) there are very few lesbian and gays in the country, ii) very few of them actually marry, iii) even fewer of them have children, and iv) the children are not doing well in school relative to children of opposite sex married parents. Perhaps it is time to revisit the “one size fits all” notion of marriage and allow same sex marriages to evolve on their own terms. A brief history of the Book Review: Hanna ideological roots and Rosin’s The End of cultural fruits of orgasmic Men . 14 utopianism. 8 by Kathryn Marshall by Barbara Kay Contrary to what the eye­ In this essay Barbara Kay traces the impulse behind catching title suggests, this is "Sex Week" on university not a book about the end of campuses, including U of men. Rather, it’s a book about Toronto, with its emphasis evolving gender roles and on pornography, voyeurism and moral vacancy. The the incredible advances women have made, and what theorists taught have served to create a false morality this means for society. Weaving together statistics and based in genital apocalypticism. The result is a "hook­ insightful interviews, Rosin presents a case that women up culture", pandemic pornography, erosion of ability to experience intimacy, self­sacrifice of girls and women to haven’t just achieved the equality dreamed of by the unnatural behavioural "norms", and the subversion of feminist movements of the 60’s and 70’s, but they’ve the pillars on which civilized societies rest. now surpassed this goal and have pulled well ahead of men. However, in an age where female CEO’s and It shouldn’t take a political leaders are still somewhat of a rarity, Rosin’s community to raise thesis seems premature and selectively pieced together. your kid and why the government won’t do anything about it. 11 Why are Canada’s courts by Derek James From soft on sexual crimes The government cannot be against children? . 19 trusted to fully defend its by Bob Tarantino interests against positive rights claims. When a positive rights Our justice system is failing claim is successful against a government defendant, children who have been subject the costs associated with that unfavourable ruling are to the most awful and horrific dispersed across a broader segment of society and of crimes. Toronto lawyer and ultimately borne by taxpayers. In such circumstances, government lacks a sufficient incentive to fully defend C2C columnist Bob Tarantino its interests because it can pass on to others any new explains… (Caution: the following article contains burdens it receives. descriptions of the crimes.) 3 Volume 7, Issue 2 Same-sex marriage and Disneyesque fantasies By Doug Allen where every possible type of family arrangement is all right, and irrelevant to any social purpose. BC’s television show Modern Family is amazing entertainment. It is brilliantly written and Real life is so much more complicated than a Aacted, and well­deserving of its numerous television show. Contrast any episode of Modern Emmy and Golden Globe awards. It is also post­ Family with the strange case of Craig Hutchinson. In modern propaganda. 2006 the Nova Scotian Hutchinson poked holes in all of his girlfriend’s condoms in an effort to get her The show is centered around Jay Pritchett and his pregnant. He was successful, but when she found out immediate family members. Jay is a sixty­something what he had done she went to the police and he was wealthy owner of a construction firm who is married initially convicted of aggravated sexual assault in to his much younger trophy wife Gloria. Gloria has a 2009. That conviction was overturned on appeal, but son Manny from a previous marriage, and together a second Nova Scotia court found him guilty of sexual they have a newborn son. Jay has a married daughter, assault and sentenced him to eighteen months in and a gay son Mitchell who is married to Cam. The jail. The appeal of that charge was upheld in January latter have an adopted daughter named Lily. of 2013, and is likely to be appealed to the Supreme The over­riding sub­text is that “love conquers all.” Court of Canada. Whether or not Jay will be dead by the time his newest On the surface, the moral of the Hutchinson case son reaches middle school, or whether or not Lily simply seems to be “watch out for untrustworthy will suffer without a mother, are questions with an boyfriends.” But it turns out to be deeper than this, obvious answer: “family” structure ­ the set of formal and connected to the meaning of marriage and our and informal rules and expectations that regulate our history with same sex marriage. At a first pass, what lives with others ­ doesn’t matter. A “modern family” makes the Hutchinson case so important are the founded on loving relationships is a happy place implications for the rest of us. 4 Volume 7, Issue 2 Consent, kids, and the family unit Same sex marriage: a difference in kind, not just As noted in the appeal trial, if a woman lies to her degree male partner about her use of birth control pills, is she The point is that same sex marriage was not a guilty of sexual assault? If a child results from a sexual simple addition, but a redefinition.