This is the text of a talk I did with Freedom Road Socialist Organization/Organizacion Socialista del Camino para la Libertad (FRSO/OSCL) and Friends at the CUNY Grad Center, April 6th. Many of the guests were veterans, so there was some emphasis placed on the role of vets in the anti-war movement.

The discussion afterward was probably a lot better, but I don’t have a transcript of that.

This past Wednesday night, I debated Seth Forman about whether the US should leave Iraq. I am enclosing the opening remarks I made, with no pretense that they are thorough. When one has 15 minutes to get it out there, then only the outlines get covered.

This is a short montage of commentary on the links between sexualized violence, violent sexuality, pornography, and Abu Ghraib. The first link inside is a recent SBS (Australia) special done, revealing the yet unreleased phtographs and video of more torture, probable rape, and murder of prisoners. This is another big shoe dropping for the Bush adminsitration… but it is also a time for serious reflection on what this whole episode says to us about our constructions of sexuality.

“Sex & War” has been released by Lulu Press. Order Sex & War

Editorial Reviews
Book Description

The notion that war is intrinsic to man’s nature is dealt a powerful setback in Stan Goff’s Sex and War. Goff, a former Special Forces sergeant, argues persuasively that rather than being born that way, men are made into killers by governments, corporations, and systems of power. Drawing both on his experiences in the military and on his reading of feminist writers such as Patricia Williams, bell hooks, and Chandra Mohanty — and as the father of a son stationed in Iraq — Goff journeys through wars, ideologies, and cultures, revealing the transformation of men into killers. His story encompasses not just the battlefield and the book, but the Swift Boat Veterans controversy, the eros of George W. Bush, pornography, the Taliban, and gays and lesbians in the military. Goff’s remarkable ability to connect his own personal experiences to contemporary feminist criticism makes for a provocative discussion of war and masculinity. More reviews

This is an excerpt from the excellent blog, Biting Beaver, regarding the recent news item of the rape of an African American woman by members of the Duke lacrosse team. Someone will say that I have not given these men the presumption of innocence, but that is bullshit. This whole fucking white, male, capitalist system gives them the presumption of innocence, and we’ll see, come trial time, who is presumed guilty. These privileged white boys will have kick-ass lawyers and every break afforded by the law. But the presumption that Black women and-or strippers can NOT be raped was there in operation prior to the operation of the law. -SG

Here are several links to the amazing pictures, videos, etc., that were taken to make a record of this pilgrimmage for revolution.

Enough said.