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You can listen to this episode above and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes. You can also listen to this episode on Stitcher, Cyber Ears or download it on Archive.org (61mins, 41MB).

Nick is joined by Kathryn Joy for this entire episode. The first half of the episode is a critical look at the feminist campaign calling for American singer Chris Brown to be denied entry into Australia because of his conviction for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Rhianna. We draw on Nick’s article ‘Don’t judge me: Chris Brown and the real task of tackling violence against women’, Clem Bastow’s article ‘The Problem with the Ban Against Chris Brown’ and Katie Robertson’s article ‘Violence Against Women In Australia, Bad; Violence Against Women In The Care Of Australia, Acceptable’ (content warning for discussion of sexual violence).

We also discuss GetUp! cancelling their campaign against Brown and apologising due to the racist narrative it perpetuated, Maori support for Brown, his (court ordered) involvement with domestic violence intervention services, misogynist lyrics in Brown’s music, his ongoing problematic behaviour that suggests he may not have changed, as well as a more general discussion on whether the feminist movement should ever support restrictions on immigration – not just for Brown but in general (such as against sexist pick up artist Julien Blanc).

https://twitter.com/Kata_basis/status/535109263958753280

In the second half of the episode we discuss some critiques of identity politics, which emphasises the importance of personal experience. We draw on Michael Brull’s article ‘The Debate we have to have: Identity Politics and the Left’ and discuss how identity politics fits with a range of other issues, including intersectionality, same-sex marriage and sex work.

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Clips:

Jeffrey Lewis and the Rain ‘WWPRD’, Aamer Rahman ‘People Have a Right to be Bigots’, Portlandia ‘Series 5, Episode 7’ – ‘Feminist Men Meeting’, Strike Anywhere ‘Allies’.

You can listen to a short (10 minute) version of this episode, which features a shortened version of the discussion on the campaign against Chris Brown, below. You can subscribe to these short versions of our episodes through Omny.