Jim Goad
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
James Thaddeus "Jim" Goad (born June 12, 1961) is an American author and publisher, noted for the controversy surrounding his (now defunct) magazine ANSWER Me!.
He was raised in Philadelphia, PA. He met his late ex-wife Debbie in New York City. They married and moved to Los Angeles where he worked in a print shop. He moved to Portland, Oregon in 1994.
Jim and Debbie published four issues of their zine before running afoul of authorities with #4 (the "Rape Issue"), in which a piece called "Let's Hear It for Violence Toward Women!" appears. The Rape Issue was discovered for sale at The Newstand International by a young woman attending in Bellingham, who passed it on to a battered women's shelter. The Newstand was acquitted of trafficking obscenity, primarily because the prosecutor couldn't prove the sellers knew ANSWER Me! was obscene. During the trial, the DA told the jury that "Basically, it tells you how to rape everyone".[1] In actuality, though different contributors (notably Randall Phillip and Shaun Partridge) advocated rape, no expository explanation for rape existed.
ANSWER Me! was also blamed for the suicides of three British youths in 1996 and for Francisco Martin Duran's rifle assault on the White House in 1994. (Duran quoted a line from the magazine in a note he'd left in his van before firing 29 rounds at the White House.)
In June 1997 Debbie Goad learned that she had ovarian cancer.Jim and Debbie Goad divorced in December 1997. In 1998, he was arrested for beating his girlfriend, who had left several death threats on his answering machine (all documented on jimgoad.net) and against whom he had filed a restraining order. He pled guilty and served a prison term. He was released in October 2000.
Goad has authored four books: The Redneck Manifesto, wherein he explores issues of class in modern America; Shit Magnet, his autobiography (written while in prison); ANSWER Me!: The First Three (a compilation of the magazine's first three issues), and Jim Goad's GIGANTIC BOOK OF SEX, an anthology of his post-prison writings for sex magazines.
For years Goad has been promising works ranging from an encyclopedia about race to a definitive story of the origins of NASCAR, but these works have yet to materialize.
He maintains a website which has an archive of his old articles and new items. Scapegoat Publishing published an expanded reprint of ANSWER Me!: The First Three in 2006. Feral House published Jim Goad's GIGANTIC BOOK OF SEX in April 2007. Goad currently lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife Shannon. They are expecting a boy soon whom they have already named Zane Thaddeus Goad. [1]
Works
- ANSWER Me!: The First Three. Edinburgh: AK Press, 1994; Baltimore: Scapegoat Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-873176-03-1
- The Redneck Manifesto. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0-684-83113-9
- Shit Magnet: One Man's Miraculous Ability to Absorb the World's Guilt. Los Angeles: Feral House, 2002. ISBN 0-922915-77-6
- Truck Drivin' Psycho (CD). Discriminate Audio, 2003 (reissue of 1996 album).
- Trucker Fags in Denial (comic book with artist Jim Blanchard). Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2004.
- Jim Goad's GIGANTIC BOOK OF SEX. Los Angeles, Feral House, 2007. ISBN 1-932595-20-1
Contributions
- S.W.A.T. Deep Inside a Cop's Mind (CD). Amphetamine Reptile Records, 1994.
- "Let's Hear It for Violence Toward Women!", on The Boyd Rice Experience, Hatesville! (CD). World Serpent Distribution, 1995.
- "Roadkill" (excerpt from Shit Magnet), in Apocalypse Culture II, ed. Adam Parfrey. Venice, CA: Feral House, 2000.