NEWS STORY
Goad Rage
The
controversial publisher of Answer Me! faces charges of
kidnapping and assault after his bloodied girlfriend shows up
in the ER.
BY MAUREEN O'HAGAN
mohagan@wweek.com
MORE:
Misunderstandings
Sky Ryan may not have been the first
victim of Goad's violence.
Portland writer Jim Goad has long been accused of glorifying violence against women. Now he's been charged with practicing it, as well.
Goad made national news two years ago when a Washington bookseller was charged with distributing obscenity after selling Goad's controversial 'zine Answer Me! With the ACLU on Goad's side, the bookseller was acquitted. Last year, Simon and Schuster published The Redneck Manifesto, Goad's defense of "white trash."
Despite describing himself as a misogynist, Goad has maintained that his glorification of violence, including violence against women, is satirical. In issue No. 4 of Answer Me! Goad writes, "I am not a member of a global male conspiracy to subjugate women by force."
On May 31, however, police charged Goad with exactly that, arresting the 37-year-old writer for beating his girlfriend so badly that she wound up at the St. Vincent's emergency room. He has been charged with kidnapping and six counts of assault--the former charge a Measure 11 offense that will earn him 71?2 years in prison if he's convicted.
According to Goad's alleged victim, Sky Ryan, the couple had several brawls in their yearlong relationship. None, however, compared to a May 29 car ride during which the 22-year-old woman says she feared for her life. According to Ryan, she and Goad got into an argument while driving to her apartment around 5:30 that Friday morning. The verbal battle soon got physical, Ryan says. "He locked me inside the car and skidded out," Ryan told WW. "He was laughing, saying he'd kill me. I was pleading for my life. He's pounding me." On Skyline Boulevard, Ryan, "screaming and bloody," finally convinced Goad to let her out of the car.
When police interviewed Ryan at St. Vincent's, her left eye was swollen shut, she had bite marks on her hand and she was bleeding in several places, according to an affidavit filed by District Attorney Rod Underhill in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Since Answer Me! became popular in the early 1990s, Goad has been somewhat of a celebrity. "He's kind of heralded for not being afraid to write what he wants to write," explains Marty Kruse, who runs the small-press section at Powell's City of Books. "He's written some of the most offensive stuff I've read."
Goad revels in graphic depictions of violence. On the cover of the notorious "rape issue" of Answer Me!, a perky-looking waitress with a bloody nose and blackened eye sports a name tag saying, "Hi! I asked for it!" Inside, the magazine goes on to describe, among other things, how women secretly enjoy rape.
"He sort of found a sensitive nerve and started throbbing on it," Kruse says. "That's what Answer Me! was all about.... I saw the whole thing as this fabulous satire, as social commentary. I saw it as an affront to the politically correct."
Goad, who fancies himself an intellectual and in interviews brags about his 3.76 GPA from Temple University, called the publication satirical, arguing that critics display "a total lack of irony."
Debbie Goad, Jim's ex-wife and the co-editor of Answer Me!, says it's an "educational" magazine. "Everything is a learning experience," she told WW. "People need to open their minds and see things from all different angles."
Kruse, for one, was surprised to learn that Goad had been jailed on such serious offenses. "My impression the whole time was that he was just sort of talking the talk," Kruse says. "I never once believed he meant what he wrote."
Goad's court-appointed attorney, Shari Pearlman, says her client's writings should be kept separate from the charges he faces. "There's no relevance whatsoever," she told WW.
Underhill, however, says Goad's publications may be helpful in building a case against him. "His writings...have some link because of what I understand his writings to be--that is, violence against women," he says. "I don't see that it's closely [related], but it has obvious relevance."
Richard Martin contributed to this report.
Three British neo-Nazi skinheads killed themselves after reading an issue of Answer Me! that described 100 remarkable suicides. One of them had sent Goad $2,100 just before her death.
Jim Goad's ex-wife, Debbie, says that Sky Ryan is publicizing her fight with Goad because "she wants to be the next Courtney Love."
Misunderstandings
Sky Ryan may
not have been the first victim of Goad's violence.
In June 1997 Debbie Goad learned that she had ovarian cancer. After that, her husband of 10 years began beating her almost daily until October, according to a restraining order filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court. Debbie Goad accused Jim Goad of kicking her, spitting on her, hitting her and threatening to kill her, among other things.
The couple divorced in December, but earlier this month, while her ex-husband was in jail for the recent beating charges, Debbie asked a judge to lift the restraining order. "[He] has seeked counseling for three months and we are now friends after our legal divorce.... If I have a relapse from my ovarian cancer, [Jim] will take care of me and help me out."
Debbie Goad now claims that the original restraining order was "a misunderstanding." When asked by WW whether she lied to the judge in order to obtain it, however, she said no. --MO
Jailed on assault charges, Jim Goad may see his writing come back to haunt him.
Originally published: Willamette Week - June 17, 1998
This article contains copyrighted material that has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. MCF is offering this article available to our readers for the general purpose of criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching and/or research. We believe that our use of this material falls under the "fair use" provision of Title 17, Section 107 of the United States Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes other than that provided by law, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Read our Disclaimer
| Archives | News | Resources | Search | Victims |