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Forbidden Passages: Writings Banned in Canada
This literate, sexy, and politically provocative collection of writings featurs excerpts from some of the most significant publications seized at the Canadian border and labelled "degrading," "obscene," or politically suspect. Includes works by Kathy Acker, Dennis Cooper, bell hooks, Marguerite Duras, Jane Rule, and many others.
Hardcover
First published November 1, 1995
44 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Califia
66 books164 followersPatrick Califia, who formerly wrote under the names Pat Califia and Patrick Califia-Rice, is a writer of nonfiction (on men, gender, transgender identity, and sexuality) and fiction (erotica, poetry, and short stories).
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 14, 2012
I reviewed this here: http://lesbrary.com/2011/05/17/laura-....
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August 7, 2024It doesn't seem right to give a collection like this a starred rating, so I won't. This collection was put together and sold as a fundraiser to cover Little Sister's book store's legal fees in their case against Canadian customs for discrimination and censorship of material by seizing books meant for queer bookstores at the border and refusing them entry into Canada.
One of the things that really stood out to me is how varied the materials in this collection are. It really goes to show how arbitrary the seizures were. Allegedly the material was considered to be obscene by customs agents, however the majority of works in this collection are academic, educational, or autobiographical. It's quite easy to see their artistic (and other) merits. Even the few stories (a vast minority in the book) that are pure smut or outright disturbing content cannot be said to have no artistic merit. Perhaps it's because I'm reading this in 2024, and now the internet offers access to writing on any number of topics, but it seems absurd to disallow these works into the country (especially when, it seemed, that in most cases works like these produced WITHIN the country were allowed).
Although I thought that Pat Califia's introduction to the book was a little sanctimonious at times ("you must like weird kinky sex or else you're like, totally brainwashed by the man!") it was very informative of the cultural landscape at the time this book was published. Toward the end of his introduction, he says: "You may not agree with many of the things I've said in this introduction or some of the positions I take in my work. Perhaps you won't like some of the pieces that appear in Forbidden Passages. But don't you think you ought to have the right to read them in the first place?"
With that, I definitely agree. As book banning and censorship is on the rise again, I think that's a good lesson to keep in mind. Writing being disturbing (or even just objectively bad) is no reason for taking away the rights of others to have a chance to read it. We all have our own preferences, but we also have the right to try and understand different perspectives (even if we still decide we disagree with them).
From what I could find, ultimately rules were changed so that the onus is on customs to prove that works they are seizing are "obscene", rather than before the court case where it was the responsibility of the business to prove they were not (which many did not have the financial means to do repeatedly). There was not much information out there, but it seems that book censorship at the border is quite rare these days.
I don't necessarily recommend reading this book, due to some of the extreme content in it. However, I found many of the essays and autobiographical pieces to be informative, and I liked getting a sense of people's experiences in the world.
One of the things that really stood out to me is how varied the materials in this collection are. It really goes to show how arbitrary the seizures were. Allegedly the material was considered to be obscene by customs agents, however the majority of works in this collection are academic, educational, or autobiographical. It's quite easy to see their artistic (and other) merits. Even the few stories (a vast minority in the book) that are pure smut or outright disturbing content cannot be said to have no artistic merit. Perhaps it's because I'm reading this in 2024, and now the internet offers access to writing on any number of topics, but it seems absurd to disallow these works into the country (especially when, it seemed, that in most cases works like these produced WITHIN the country were allowed).
Although I thought that Pat Califia's introduction to the book was a little sanctimonious at times ("you must like weird kinky sex or else you're like, totally brainwashed by the man!") it was very informative of the cultural landscape at the time this book was published. Toward the end of his introduction, he says: "You may not agree with many of the things I've said in this introduction or some of the positions I take in my work. Perhaps you won't like some of the pieces that appear in Forbidden Passages. But don't you think you ought to have the right to read them in the first place?"
With that, I definitely agree. As book banning and censorship is on the rise again, I think that's a good lesson to keep in mind. Writing being disturbing (or even just objectively bad) is no reason for taking away the rights of others to have a chance to read it. We all have our own preferences, but we also have the right to try and understand different perspectives (even if we still decide we disagree with them).
From what I could find, ultimately rules were changed so that the onus is on customs to prove that works they are seizing are "obscene", rather than before the court case where it was the responsibility of the business to prove they were not (which many did not have the financial means to do repeatedly). There was not much information out there, but it seems that book censorship at the border is quite rare these days.
I don't necessarily recommend reading this book, due to some of the extreme content in it. However, I found many of the essays and autobiographical pieces to be informative, and I liked getting a sense of people's experiences in the world.
May 15, 2022
Honestly this book made me really uncomfortable at various points. There were sections that discussed sex with minors, pornographic sections, and than sections that were more academic in nature. Couldn’t tell you what the purpose behind this was other than just to throw a bunch of controversial things together and hope for the best. Personally I’d say save your time and if there’s anything you’re even slightly interested in from this book, just find a pdf of that article
June 22, 2007
When my best friend Shannan visited Canada in the mid 90s, I asked her to buy me a copy of this book from the bookstore embroiled in most of the Canadian banning. She did. This is the book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews