Leslie Cannold (born in

Port Chester, NY Port Chester is a administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the largest part of the town of Rye (town), New York, Rye in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County by populat ...

) is an Australian philosopher,

ethicist An ethicist is one whose judgment on ethics and ethical codes has come to be trusted by a specific community, and (importantly) is expressed in some way that makes it possible for others to mimic or approximate that judgment. Following the advice of ...

, educationalist, writer, activist, and

public intellectual An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or a ...

Education and career

Born and raised in

Armonk Armonk is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of North Castle, located in Westchester County, New York, United States. The corporate headquarters of IBM are located in Armonk. Geography and climate As of the 2010 census, Ar ...

and Scarsdale, New York, Leslie Cannold migrated to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

in her early twenties. She began writing for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'' as an opinion and education section columnist while raising young children and completing her graduate degrees. Educated at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

, where she studied psychology and theatre, she has a Master of Arts and a Masters in Bioethics from

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university has a ...

. She earned her PhD in Education at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

before commencing employment at the Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics when

C. A. J. Coady Cecil Anthony John Coady, more commonly publishing as C. A. J. Coady and less formally known as Tony Coady (born 18 April 1936), is a prominent Australian philosopher with an international reputation for his research, particularly in epistemolog ...

was director. she maintains adjunct positions at both universities though she left academic employment in 2006 to pursue writing and public speaking full-time. Cannold is noted as one of Australia's leading public thinkers and women. In 2005, she was named alongside

Peter Singer Peter Albert David Singer (born 6 July 1946) is an Australian moral philosopher, currently the Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University. He specialises in applied ethics and approaches ethical issues from a secular, ...

, Gustav Nossal, and Inga Clendinnen as one of Australia's top 20 public intellectuals. In 2013, she was named in the Power Index's Top Ten List of most influential brains.

Books and columns

Cannold's devil's advocate colum
Both Sides Now
began appearing weekly in Crikey at the start of 2021. Her fortnightly ''Moral Dilemma'' column appeared in Sydney's Sunday Sun-Herald from 2007 to 2013. Prior to that, she was an occasional columnist for

. Her opinions have also appeared in 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 i ...

, Crikey!,

The Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald Sun ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

The Drum Unleashed,

The Courier Mail ''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...

, and the national broadsheet

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

. In 2011, she was recognised with an EVA for a Sunday Age opinion piece on sexual assault. Her books include the award-winning ''The Abortion Myth: Feminism morality and the hard choices women make'' and ''What, No Baby?: Why women are losing the freedom to mother and how they can get it back'', which made the Australian Financial Review's top 101 books list. Her first work of fiction, ''The Book of Rachael'', a historical novel, was published in 2011 and reprinted in 2012. She publishes on diverse subject areas, including grief, circumcision, HIV/AIDS, genetic manipulation, ''ex utero'' gestation, and regulating Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs). She published chapters in ''Sperm Wars'' (2005) and ''The Australian Book of Atheism'' (2010), and ''Destroying the joint'' (2013)''.''

Radio and television work

Cannold's radio and TV appearances include ABC

Radio National Radio National, known on-air as RN, is an Australia-wide public service broadcasting radio network run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). From 1947 until 1985, the network was known as ABC Radio 2. History 1937: Predecessors an ...

triple j Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...

, ''

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced befo ...

'', '' The 7:30 Report'',

A Current Affair ''A Current Affair'' may refer to: * ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network * ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...

The Catch-Up ''The Catch-Up'' was an Australian daytime live television talk show on the Nine Network created by Mia Freedman. The show featured a panel of women as co-hosts, with Libbi Gorr, Zoe Sheridan, Mary Moody and Lisa Oldfield. It premiered on 2 ...

The Einstein Factor ''The Einstein Factor'' was an Australian television quiz show that was broadcast on ABC1. The show's host is comedian and broadcaster Peter Berner. It was first broadcast in 2004 and in 2009 the show commenced its sixth and final season, with t ...

, SBS Insight,

9am with David & Kim ''9am with David & Kim'' is an Australian morning show which premiered on Monday 30 January 2006 on Network Ten. It aired live from 9am - 11am weekdays, and was hosted by musician and former '' Getaway'' reporter David Reyne and former ''Nation ...

, The Circle,

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

, ABC News Breakfast, News 24, and

Lateline ''Lateline'' was an Australian television news program which ran from 1990 until 2017. The program initially aired weeknights on ABC TV. In later years it was also broadcast internationally throughout Asia and the Pacific on the Australia Plu ...

. For many years, she talked life, work, and ethics with well-known radio and TV broadcaster

Virginia Trioli Virginia Frances Trioli (born 16 August 1965) is an Australian journalist, author, radio and television presenter. Trioli currently hosts the morning program on ABC Radio Melbourne in Melbourne. She has previously been co-host of the Australi ...

774 ABC Melbourne ABC Radio Melbourne (official callsign: 3LO) is an ABC Local Radio station in Melbourne, Australia. It began transmission on 13 October 1924, and was Melbourne's second licensed radio station after 3AR. Most Local Radio stations in Victoria sim ...

, and was heard regularly on Radio 4BC and Deborah Cameron's morning show on

702 ABC Sydney ABC Radio Sydney (official call sign: 2BL, formerly 2SB) is an Australian Broadcasting Corporation, ABC radio station in Sydney, Australia. It is the flagship station in the ABC Local Radio network and broadcasts on 702 hertz, kHz on the AM bro ...

. , she talks ethics with Angela Owen on ABC Central West, and is a regular panellist on ABC TV's political talk show '' Q&A'' and on ABC TV's ''Compass''.

Activism

Cannold is past president of Reproductive Choice Australia, a national coalition of pro-choice organisations that played a key role in removing the ban on the abortion drug

RU486 Mifepristone, also known as RU-486, is a medication typically used in combination with misoprostol to bring about a medical abortion during pregnancy and manage early miscarriage. This combination is 97% effective during the first 63 days of p ...

in 2006, and of Pro Choice Victoria, which was instrumental in the decriminalisation of abortion in Victoria in 2008. In 2011, she co-founded the not-for-profit speaker referral site No Chicks No Excuses. Leslie Cannold was awarded 2011 ''

Australian Humanist of the Year The Council of Australian Humanist Societies (CAHS) is an umbrella organisation for Australian humanist societies. It was founded in 1965. It is affiliated with Humanists International. The official symbol of CAHS (and all member organisations ...

'' in recognition of her valuable contribution to public debate on a wide range of ethical issues, of particular relevance to women and family life. Her TEDx talk on abortion has had close to 60,000 views, and in 2016, she spoke to around 6,000 activists from 169 countries at the International Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen about abortion stigma.

Personal life

Cannold identifies herself as a secular Jew. She has two sons.

References

External links

Leslie Cannold's website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cannold, Leslie Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Port Chester, New York Wesleyan University alumni Australian abortion-rights activists American emigrants to Australia University of Melbourne faculty 21st-century Australian novelists Australian women novelists Australian columnists Australian ethicists Jewish American writers Jewish Australian writers Jewish philosophers Australian women philosophers Australian activists Australian women activists 21st-century Australian philosophers WikiLeaks Party politicians People from Armonk, New York Scarsdale High School alumni Writers from Melbourne 21st-century Australian women writers Australian women columnists 21st-century American Jews