The November/December issue of This Magazine features a cover story about the collision of feminism and pornography, an idea the magazine has explored before. In the July/August 1978 issue, Myrna Kostash wrote a cover story titled “Pornography: A Feminist View,” an essay that strongly criticized the pornography then entering the mainstream as being harmful to women, and to the feminist cause.

I spoke with Myrna in September to discuss how the original article came about, how her views have changed since then, and whether the term “feminist pornography” is a contradiction in terms. Myrna Kostash is an Edmonton-based writer, teacher, and translator, and the author of
Long Way From Home: The Story of the Sixties Generation in Canada and The Doomed Bridegroom: A Memoir.

Tomorrow we’ll be reproducing Myrna’s original essay here on the blog in its entirety, so check back then to read it.

This is the first in what we hope will become a semi-regular podcast on the website. As always, I’m happy to hear your feedback. Contact me at editor at thismagazine dot ca.

This podcast is published under a Creative Commons licence. The music you hear is also CC-licensed:

Intro: “Lemmings in Love” by Pornophonique
Outro: “Ender” by WhiteRoom