Lena Chen is a feminist artist, writer, and activist based in Berlin and Los Angeles. Born in San Francisco, California, Chen studied sociology and minored in Studies of Women, Gender, & Sexuality at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

. Her work addresses women's identity, trauma, and intimacy.

Work

Writing

In August 2006, she started penning the blog ''Sex and the Ivy''. Her first-person accounts of sexual experiences, depression, and undergraduate life at one of America's premier academic institutions spurred campus discussion, prompted media attention, and garnered a following. Quickly becoming a controversial figure, she was criticized by some as morally reprehensible and praised by others for encouraging frank sexual dialogue. Her writing has appeared in ''

The American Prospect ''The American Prospect'' is a daily online and bimonthly print American political and public policy magazine dedicated to American modern liberalism and progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The American Prospect'' says it "is devoted to ...

'', ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', and ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

''. Following the publication of revenge porn by an ex-boyfriend in 2009, Chen and her partner were subject to online harassment. For the next five years, she continued blogging in spite of the attacks, until retiring in April 2013.

Art

In 2017, she revealed that she had been living in Berlin under an alternate identity ("Elle Peril") as part of a durational performance. In the aftermath of revenge porn, she posed nude for artists in order to reclaim agency over her body and presented documentation of her life as Elle Peril in a solo exhibition at S0MA Gallery. Her work has been shown at

Human Resources Los Angeles Human Resources Los Angeles (HRLA) is a non-profit exhibition and performance space located in Chinatown, Los Angeles, Los Angeles's Chinatown dedicated to supporting interdisciplinary, performative and experimental art practices. History Human R ...

and

Transmediale Transmediale, stylised as transmediale is an annual festival for art and digital culture in Berlin, usually held over five days at the end of January and the beginning of February. Transmediale takes the form of a conference (sometimes called ...

Activism

In 2010, she co-organized the Feminist Coming Out Day campaign and the Rethinking Virginity conferenceLux Alptraum (May 4, 2010)
Rethinking Virginity—And Examining Our Assumptions About Sex
Jezebel.com.

Later life

By 2018 Chen had put her undergraduate notoriety behind her, and, according to the New York Times, was devoting her time to "curating art shows and events focused on helping other women heal from trauma." .

References

External links

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Lena Chen on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Lena Harvard College alumni Writers from San Francisco American sex columnists American women columnists Living people American women bloggers American bloggers 1987 births Feminist artists American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American women journalists of Asian descent 21st-century American women writers