Prostitution, Pornography, and Censorship: Two Humanist Approaches
The Culture of Pornography
by Alice Leuchtag
Are pornography and prostitution merely "victimless crimes"? Or are they powerful institutions by which a patriarchal culture continues to subjugate women? For anti-pornography feminists, the answer is clear: outlawing pornography and prostitution are the two biggest challenges facing the women's movement.
The Perils of Pornophobia
by Nadine Strossen
Far from offering a radical new analysis of the problem, anti-pornography feminists are actually harming the cause of women's rights by promoting a deeply puritanical approach to sexual issues. Even worse, their driftnet proposals for censorship offer a potent tool to the right--one which has already been used against women's groups.
Cover Story:
Elvis' DNA: The Gene As a Cultural Icon
by Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee
Over the last several decades, an insiduous idea has taken popular root: the notion that genetic predisposition can account for everything from intelligence and artistic abilities to political opinions and criminal behavior. A review of the relevant literature reveals how widespread--and wrong--this notion is.
A Humanist Look at Education
The Corporate Takeover of American Schools
by Deron Robert Boyles
An ominous trend in educational policy has been the appeal to corporate models of "accountability" and "performance" as the yardstick for educational effectiveness. Are these managerial strategies really designed to promote the critical thinking skills so important to citizens in a democracy? Or are they more concerned with ensuring ideological hegemony?
"Coherence Lost": Education, Modernity, and Fractured Meaning
by Pete A.Y. Gunter
Have we lost coherence and wholeness in educational theory? Has relentless specialization turned human knowledge into a mass of unbalanced and poorly related parts? Have we developed two rival and antithetical cultures--one scientific and analytic; the other artistic and creative? And if the answer to all of the above is "yes," what should we do about it? Alfred North Whitehead had some ideas.
Curriculum and Culture
by Paul Shore
The European approach to education reflects a different understanding than is found in America: knowledge is valued for itself, not as a means to future gain. Beyond that, it provides something sorely lacking in the United States: a coherent historical narrative and language through which citizens can gain entrance to their own culture.
