John Stoltenberg (born 1944) is an American writer who identifies his political perspective as radical feminist. For several years he has worked for DC Metro Theater Arts and is its executive editor. He has written three books, two collections of his essays and a novel.

He was the life partner of Andrea Dworkin for 30 years and has lived with his husband, Joe Hamilton, for over 15 years.

Education and career

Stoltenberg studied philosophy, focusing on the philosophy of religion. He holds a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary and a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Arts from Columbia University School of the Arts. In undergraduate and graduate school, he began writing, producing, directing, and acting in plays. Upon graduation, he became the writer-in-residence and administrative director for the influential experimental theater company The Open Theater, whose artistic director was Joseph Chaikin. Meanwhile, Stoltenberg's own plays were produced off-Broadway, and he won a New York State Arts Council grant to be a playwright.

In the 1980s, John began his career as a magazine editor. He worked as the managing editor at Essence, Working Woman, Lear's, and later AARP: The Magazine. Stoltenberg serves as executive editor and Communications Advisor for DC Metro Theater Arts, where he publishes theater reviews, interviews, and essays about live theater in Washington, D.C. In 2015, John produced a one-woman play titled Aftermath, which was an edited version of an unpublished essay by Andrea Dworkin. It was edited and directed for the stage by Adam Thorburn.

Writings

Stoltenberg has written many essays and speeches, as well as a novel, reflecting his pro-feminist sexual politics. Several appeared in the book For Men Against Sexism: A Book of Readings (1977): "Refusing to Be a Man", "Toward Gender Justice", and "Eroticism and Violence in the Father-Son Relationship".

In 1989, he published a collection of his essays, Refusing to Be a Man: Essays on Sex and Justice. Lesbian author Rita Mae Brown stated the book carefully identifies the process by which male identification "affects and distorts men's most intimate capacities." This was followed in 1993 by a second collection The End of Manhood: A Book for Men of Conscience.

In 2013, he published the novel GONERZ. He has stated the writings of Andrea Dworkin have been the inspiration for his own and he dedicated all three books to her. His work is included in several anthologies including Feminism and Men: Reconstructing Gender Relations and The New Politics of Masculinity: Men, Power and Resistance. Stoltenberg has been credited with the quote: "Pornography tells lies about women. But pornography tells the truth about men."

Personal life

Born and raised in Minnesota, in his early life John was married to a woman and lived within traditional marital roles. After that, John has lived as an out gay man who also uses the term queer. He chose to spend his life with the radical feminist and lesbian, Andrea Dworkin. They were introduced by a mutual friend, a theater director, in 1974, at a meeting of the then-fledgling Gay Academic Union. While they intended for the 1985 article to make clear they were not heterosexual, the "editor refused to allow the writer to identify us as gay and lesbian, as we had asked."

See also Andrea Dworkin § Relationship with John Stoltenberg.

Activism

In addition to joining Dworkin in marches to protest against pornography, Stoltenberg founded Men Against Pornography in New York City, the male branch of Women Against Pornography. In the mid-'80s, he created and facilitated "The Pose Workshop", which entailed clothed men adopting the poses that women strike in pornographic shots with direction from other attendees, a version of which was broadcast on BBC television. He used that as an empathy-builder with young men on college campuses and at anti-sexist men's conferences across the US.

He was a founder of the group Men Can Stop Rape and developed the group's “My Strength” poster campaign which aims to educate young men on sexual relationships, consent, and rape.

He is also the creative director of the group's "My Duty" sexual-assault-prevention media campaign, which is licensed to the United States Department of Defense's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.

Stoltenberg has voiced his support for transgender rights, and argued in 2020 that Dworkin was a transgender ally.

Selected bibliography

Books

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Chapters in books

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Journal articles

  • Article on the Promise Keepers.

References

  • Living with Andrea Dworkin, Stoltenberg's account originally published in Lambda Book Report (May/June 1994)
  • Imagining Life Without Andrea, transcript of Stoltenberg's extemporaneous speech to the Take Back the Night Rally Honoring Andrea Dworkin (30 April 2005).