B.A. (Guelph), M.A. (Trent)
Supervised by: Christopher Dummitt
Committee: Janet Miron and Caroline Durand
External Examiner: Valerie Korinek, University of Saskatchewan
Chair: Stephen Bocking
The Pervert’s New Statesman: Justice Weekly, Advocacy, and Sexuality in Post-War Canada
Justice Weekly was a tabloid published in Toronto from 1946 to 1972. The popular narrative is that it was an unremarkable, obscure, and pornographic paper which was co-opted by gay and homophile voices in the 1950’s. But why did a magazine best remembered, as Mordecai Richler put it, as “the pervert’s new statesman” publish this material? This thesis argues that Justice Weekly really was primarily about Justice, rather than titillation. The paper explored justice through topics such as juvenile delinquency and spanking, which allowed sexualized material to appear, as well as conversations surrounding gay men, race, criminality, and punishment. While the paper outed gay men and often argued for harsher prison conditions, it also published material from Canada’s earliest gay activists and prisoner presses. It saw these voices as worthy of consideration and presentation, though it often disagreed with them. Ultimately, the paper reflects the changing views of Phil Daniels, its editor, as he negotiated the popular issues of his time and explored liberal, equality focused justice, and illuminates often ignored historical elements of these issues. Although the paper contained sexual content, it maintained an editorial view focused on justice.
Devon completed his B.A. at the University of Guelph. During his undergraduate degree he focused on courses involving the history of sexuality and gender as will as historical theory. He also wrote an award winning short biography of author H.P. Lovecraft. For his thesis he intends to write a history of the Toronto tabloid Justice Weekly, focusing on its representations of masculinity, hierarchies, and erotic discipline.
2019 Trent Three Minute Thesis: Devon Harding