Naomi Wolf
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Naomi Rebekah Wolf (born November 12, 1962) is an American feminist author, journalist and
conspiracy theorist A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...
. Following her first book '' The Beauty Myth'' (1991), she became a leading spokeswoman of what has been described as the third wave of the feminist movement. Feminists including
Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...
and
Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
praised her work. Others, including
Camille Paglia Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern cultu ...
, criticized it. In the 1990s, she was a political advisor to the presidential campaigns of
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
and
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
. Wolf's later books include the bestseller '' The End of America'' in 2007 and '' Vagina: A New Biography''. Critics have challenged the quality and accuracy of the scholarship in her books; her serious misreading of court records for ''Outrages'' (2019) led to its US publication being cancelled. Wolf's career in journalism has included topics such as
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...
and the
Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...
movement in articles for media outlets such as ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'', ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', and ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
''. Since around 2014, Wolf has been described, by journalists and media outlets, as a "
conspiracy theorist A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...
". She has received criticism for promoting
misinformation Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. It differs from disinformation, which is ''deliberately'' deceptive. Rumors are information not attributed to any particular source, and so are unreliable and often unverified, but can turn ...
on topics such as beheadings carried out by ISIS, the
Western African Ebola virus epidemic The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in Western Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and S ...
and
Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...
. She has objected to
COVID-19 lockdowns Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions colloquially known as lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions) have been implemented in numerous countri ...
and has criticized
COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...
s. In June 2021, her
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account was suspended for posting anti-vaccine misinformation.


Childhood and education

Wolf was born in San Francisco, to a Jewish family. Her mother is Deborah Goleman Wolf, an anthropologist and the author of ''The Lesbian Community''. Her father was
Leonard Wolf Leonard Wolf (March 1, 1923 – March 20, 2019) was a Romanian-American poet, author, teacher, and translator. He is known for his authoritative annotated editions of classic gothic horror novels, including '' Dracula'', ''Frankenstein'', ''The ...
, a
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n-born scholar of gothic horror novels, faculty member at San Francisco State University, and
Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...
translator. Leonard Wolf died from
Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...
on March 20, 2019. Wolf has a brother, Aaron, and a half-brother, Julius, from her father's earlier relationship; it remained a secret until Wolf was in her 30s. She attended Lowell High School and debated in regional speech tournaments as a member of the
Lowell Forensic Society Lowell High School is a co-educational, public high school in San Francisco, California. History 1853-1893 In 1853, Colonel Thomas J. Nevins, San Francisco's first superintendent of schools, broached the idea of a free high school for boys a ...
. Wolf attended
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in English literature in 1984. From 1985 to 1987, she was a
Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
at
New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...
. Wolf's initial period at Oxford University was difficult as she experienced "raw sexism, overt snobbery and casual antisemitism". Her writing became so personal and subjective that her tutor advised against submitting her doctoral thesis. Wolf told interviewer
Rachel Cooke Rachel Cooke (born 1969) is a British journalist and writer. Early life Cooke was born in Sheffield, and is the daughter of a university lecturer. She went to school in Jaffa, Israel, until she was 11, before returning to Sheffield, and atten ...
, writing for ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'', in 2019: "My subject didn't exist. I wanted to write feminist theory, and I kept being told by the dons there was no such thing." Her writing at this time formed the basis of her first book, ''The Beauty Myth''. Wolf ultimately returned to Oxford, completing her
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
degree in English literature in 2015. Her thesis, supervised by Stefano Evangelista of
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, formed the basis for her 2019 book ''Outrages: Sex, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Love''.


Political consultant

Wolf was involved in
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
's 1996 re-election bid, brainstorming with the president's team about ways to reach female voters. Hired by
Dick Morris Richard Samuel Morris (born November 28, 1948) is an American political author and commentator who previously worked as a pollster, political campaign consultant, and general political consultant. A friend and advisor to Bill Clinton during ...
, she wanted Morris to promote Clinton as "The Good Father", and a protector of "the American house". She met with him every few weeks for nearly a year, Morris wrote in his book about the campaign, ''Behind the Oval Office''. Wolf managed to "persuade me to pursue school uniforms, tax breaks for adoption, simpler cross-racial adoption laws and more workplace flexibility." The advice she gave was without payment, Morris said in November 1999, as Wolf was fearful the knowledge of her involvement in the campaign might have negative consequences for Clinton. During
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
's bid for the presidency in the 2000 election, Wolf was hired to work as a consultant. Wolf's ideas and participation in the Gore campaign generated considerable media coverage. According to a report by Michael Duffy and
Karen Tumulty Karen Tumulty (born December 1, 1955) is a political columnist for '' The Washington Post''. Before joining the ''Post'', Tumulty wrote for '' Time'' from October 1994 to April 2010. She was a Congressional Correspondent, as well as the National ...
in ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'', Wolf was paid a salary of $15,000 (by November 1999, $5,000) per month "in exchange for advice on everything from how to win the women's vote to shirt-and-tie combinations." Wolf's direct involvement in the ''Time'' article was unclear; she declined to be interviewed on the record. In an interview with Melinda Henneberger in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Wolf said she had been appointed in January 1999 and denied having advised Gore on his wardrobe. Wolf said she had mentioned the term "alpha male" only once in passing and that " twas just a truism, something the pundits had been saying for months, that the vice president is in a supportive role and the President is in an initiatory role…I used those terms as shorthand in talking about the difference in their job descriptions". Wolf told
Katharine Viner Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971)Katharine Vine"Dear diary ..." ''The Guardian'', 27 November 2004 is a British journalist and playwright. She became the first female editor-in-chief at ''The Guardian'' on 1 June 2015 succeeding Alan ...
of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' in 2001: "I believe his agenda for women was a really historic agenda. I was honoured to bring the concerns of women to Gore's table, I'm sorry that he didn't win and the controversy was worth it for me." She told Viner the men in Gore's campaign, at the equivalent level, were paid more than she was.


Works


''The Beauty Myth'' (1991)

In 1991, Wolf gained international attention as a spokeswoman of
third-wave feminism Third-wave feminism is an iteration of the feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X and early Gen Y generations third-w ...
from the publication of her first book '' The Beauty Myth'', an international bestseller. It was named "one of the seventy most influential books of the twentieth century" by ''The New York Times''. She argues that "beauty" as a normative value is entirely
socially constructed Social constructionism is a theory in sociology, social ontology, and communication theory which proposes that certain ideas about physical reality arise from collaborative consensus, instead of pure observation of said reality. The theory ...
, and that the patriarchy determines the content of that construction with the objective of maintaining women's subjugation. Wolf posits the idea of an "iron-maiden", an intrinsically unattainable standard that is then used to punish women physically and psychologically for their failure to achieve and conform to it. Wolf criticized the fashion and beauty industries as exploitative of women, but added that the beauty myth extended into all areas of human functioning. Wolf writes that women should have "the choice to do whatever we want with our faces and bodies without being punished by an ideology that is using attitudes, economic pressure, and even legal judgments regarding women's appearance to undermine us psychologically and politically". Wolf argues that women were under assault by the "beauty myth" in five areas: work, religion, sex, violence, and hunger. Ultimately, Wolf argues for a relaxation of normative standards of beauty. In her introduction, Wolf positioned her argument against the concerns of second-wave feminists and offered the following analysis:


Accuracy

Christina Hoff Sommers Christina Marie Hoff Sommers (born 1950) is an American author and philosopher. Specializing in ethics, she is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
criticized Wolf for publishing the estimate that 150,000 women were dying every year from
anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...
. Sommers said she traced the source to the American Anorexia and Bulimia Association, who stated that they were misquoted; the figure refers to sufferers, not fatalities. Wolf's citation came from a book by Brumberg, who referred to an American Anorexia and Bulimia Association newsletter and misquoted the newsletter. Wolf accepted the error and changed it in future editions. Sommers gave an estimate for the number of fatalities in 1990 as 100–400. The annual anorexia casualties in the US were estimated to be around 50 to 60 per year in the mid-1990s. In 1995, for an article in ''
The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published ...
'', British journalist
Joan Smith Joan Alison Smith (born 27 August 1953) is an English journalist, novelist, and human rights activist, who is a former chair of the Writers in Prison committee in the English section of International PEN and was the Executive Director of Hack ...
recalled asking Wolf to explain her unsourced assertion in ''The Beauty Myth'' that the UK "has 3.5 million anorexics or bulimics (95 per cent of them female), with 6,000 new cases yearly". Wolf replied, according to Smith, that she had calculated the statistics from patients with eating disorders at one clinic. Caspar Schoemaker of the Netherlands Trimbos Institute published a paper in the academic journal ''Eating Disorders'' demonstrating that of the 23 statistics cited by Wolf in ''Beauty Myth'', 18 were incorrect, with Wolf citing numbers that average out to 8 times the number in the source she was citing.


Reception

Second-wave feminist Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains. W ...
Germaine Greer Germaine Greer (; born 29 January 1939) is an Australian writer and public intellectual, regarded as one of the major voices of the radical feminist movement in the latter half of the 20th century. Specializing in English and women's literat ...
wrote that ''The Beauty Myth'' was "the most important feminist publication since ''
The Female Eunuch ''The Female Eunuch'' is a 1970 book by Germaine Greer that became an international bestseller and an important text in the feminist movement. Greer's thesis is that the "traditional" suburban, consumerist, nuclear family represses women sexual ...
''" (Greer's own work), and
Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...
wrote, "''The Beauty Myth'' is a smart, angry, insightful book, and a clarion call to freedom. Every woman should read it." British novelist
Fay Weldon Fay Weldon CBE, FRSL (born Franklin Birkinshaw; 22 September 1931 – 4 January 2023) was an English author, essayist and playwright. Over the course of her 55-year writing career, she published 31 novels, including ''Puffball'' (1980), '' The ...
called the book "essential reading for the New Woman".Kim Hubbard
The Tyranny of Beauty, To Naomi Wolf, Pressure to Look Good Equals Oppression
, ''
People A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
'', June 24, 1991.
Betty Friedan Betty Friedan ( February 4, 1921 – February 4, 2006) was an American feminist writer and activist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book ''The Feminine Mystique'' is often credited with sparking the se ...
wrote in ''Allure'' magazine that "''The Beauty Myth'' and the controversy it is eliciting could be a hopeful sign of a new surge of feminist consciousness." However,
Camille Paglia Camille Anna Paglia (; born April 2, 1947) is an American feminist academic and social critic. Paglia has been a professor at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1984. She is critical of many aspects of modern cultu ...
, whose ''
Sexual Personae ''Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson'' is a 1990 work about sexual decadence in Western literature and the visual arts by scholar Camille Paglia, in which she addresses major artists and writers such as Donatell ...
'' was published in the same year as ''The Beauty Myth'', derided Wolf as unable to perform "historical analysis", and called her education "completely removed from reality." Her comments touched off a series of debates between Wolf and Paglia in the pages of ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
''.
Caryn James Caryn A. James (born Caryn A. Fuoroli) is an American film critic, journalist, university lecturer and writer. Biography James is one of at least three children born to James M. Fuoroli Sr. and Joan A. Ford. A native of Providence, Rhode Isla ...
in ''The New York Times'' stated:
"No other work has so forcefully confronted the anti-feminism that emerged during the conservative, yuppified 1980's, or so honestly depicted the confusion of accomplished women who feel emotionally and physically tortured by the need to look like movie stars. Even by the standards of pop-cultural feminist studies, ''The Beauty Myth'' is a mess, but that doesn't mean it's wrong."
James also wrote that the book's "claims of an intensified anti-feminism are plausible, but Ms. Wolf doesn't begin to prove them because her logic is so lame, her evidence so easily knocked down."
Marilyn Yalom Marilyn Yalom (March 10, 1932 – November 20, 2019) was a feminist author and historian. She was a senior scholar at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University, and a professor of French. She served as the institute's dire ...
in ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' called the book "persuasive" and praised its "accumulated evidence". Revisiting ''Beauty Myth'' in 2019 for ''The New Republic'', literary critic
Maris Kreizman Maris may refer to: Personal names *Māris (name), a Latvian masculine given name, including a list of people with the name *Maris (given name), including a list of people and mythical or fictional characters *Maris (surname), including a list of ...
recalls that reading it as an undergraduate made her "world burst open". However, as she matured, Kreizman saw Wolf's books as "poorly argued tracts" with Wolf making "wilder and wilder assertions" over time. Kreizman "began to write (Wolf) off as a fringe character" despite the fact that she had "once informed my own feminism so deeply."


''Fire with Fire'' (1993)

In ''Fire with Fire'' (1993), Wolf wrote on politics, female empowerment and women's sexual liberation. She wished to persuade women to reject "
victim feminism ''Victim feminism'' is a term that has been used by some conservative postfeminist writers such as Katie Roiphe and Naomi Wolf to critique forms of feminist activism which they see as reinforcing the idea that women are weak or lacking in agenc ...
" for "power feminism." She argued for diminishing the issue of opposing men, avoiding divisive issues such as abortion and the rights of lesbians and considering more universal issues like violence against women, pay disparities and sexual harassment. Mary Nemeth wrote in ''
Maclean's ''Maclean's'', founded in 1905, is a Canadian news magazine reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian perspe ...
'' that her "central thesis—that when Anita Hill in 1991 accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment she provoked a 'genderquake' that turned American women into 'the political ruling class'—seems grossly exaggerated."
Melissa Benn Melissa Ann Benn (born 1957) is a British journalist and writer. She is the daughter of Tony Benn and Caroline Benn. Biography Benn was born in Hammersmith, London. She has three brothers, including Hilary Benn and Stephen Benn, 3rd Viscount S ...
in the ''
London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...
'' described it as Wolf's "call for a realpolitik in which 'sisterhood and capital' might be allies". Michiko Kakutani of ''The New York Times'' assailed the work for its "dubious oversimplifications and highly debatable assertions" and its "disconcerting penchant for inflationary prose," nonetheless approving of Wolf's "efforts to articulate an accessible, pragmatic feminism, …helping to replace strident dogma with common sense." The ''Time'' magazine reviewer Martha Duffy dismissed the book as "flawed," although she commented that Wolf was "an engaging raconteur" who was also "savvy about the role of TV—especially the Thomas-Hill hearings and daytime talk shows—in radicalizing women, including homemakers." She characterized the book as advocating an inclusive strain of feminism that welcomed abortion opponents. Feminist author
Natasha Walter Natasha Walter (born 20 January 1967) is a British feminist writer and human rights activist. She is the author of a novel, ''A Quiet Life'' (2016), two works of feminist non-fiction: ''Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism'' (2010, Virago) and '' ...
writing in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' wrote that the book "has its faults, but compared with ''The Beauty Myth'' it has energy and spirit, and generosity too." Walter, however, criticized it for having a "narrow agenda" where "you will look in vain for much discussion of older women, of black women, of women with low incomes, of mothers." Characterizing Wolf as a "media star", Walter wrote: "She is particularly good, naturally, on the role of women in the media."


''Promiscuities'' (1997)

''Promiscuities'' (1997) reports on and analyzes the shifting patterns of contemporary adolescent sexuality. Wolf argues that literature is rife with examples of male coming-of-age stories, covered autobiographically by
D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
,
Tobias Wolff Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible, To ...
,
J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel ''The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger got his start in 1940, before serving in World War II, by publishing several short stories in '' ...
and
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
, and covered misogynistically by
Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...
,
Philip Roth Philip Milton Roth (March 19, 1933 – May 22, 2018) was an American novelist and short story writer. Roth's fiction—often set in his birthplace of Newark, New Jersey—is known for its intensely autobiographical character, for philosophicall ...
and
Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Mailer ...
. Wolf insists that female accounts of adolescent sexuality have been systematically suppressed. Schools, in Wolf's opinion, should teach their students "sexual gradualism", masturbation, mutual masturbation and oral sex, which she sees as a more credible approach than total abstinence and without the risks of full intercourse. Wolf uses cross-cultural material to try to demonstrate that women have, across history, been celebrated as more carnal than men. Additionally, Wolf argues that women must reclaim the legitimacy of their own sexuality by shattering the polarization of women between virgin and whore. Partly an account of her own sexual history, she urged women to "redeem the slut in ourselves and rejoice in being bad girls". ''Promiscuities'' generally received negative reviews. In ''The New York Times'',
Michiko Kakutani Michiko Kakutani (born January 9, 1955) is an American writer and retired literary critic, best known for reviewing books for ''The New York Times'' from 1983 to 2017. In that role, she won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1998. Early life ...
wrote that Wolf is "a frustratingly inept messenger: a sloppy thinker and incompetent writer" who "tries in vain to pass off tired observations as radical ''aperçus'', subjective musings as generational truths, sappy suggestions as useful ideas". On Wolf's claims about accounts of female sexuality being suppressed, Kakutani wrote: "Where has Ms. Wolf been? What about the raunchy confessions that surface daily on radio and television talk shows? What about all the memoirists—from Anais Nin to Kathryn Harrison." However, two days earlier in the ''Times'' Sunday edition, Weaver Courtney praised the book: "Anyone—particularly anyone who, like Ms. Wolf, was born in the 1960s—will have a very hard time putting down ''Promiscuities''. Told through a series of confessions, her book is a searing and thoroughly fascinating exploration of the complex wildlife of female sexuality and desire." In contrast, ''
The Library Journal ''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
'' excoriated the work, writing, "Overgeneralization abounds as she attempts to apply the microcosmic events of this mostly white, middle-class, liberal milieu to a whole generation. …There is a desperate defensiveness in the tone of this book which diminishes the force of her argument."


''Misconceptions'' (2001)

"I feel absolutely staggered by what I discovered after giving birth," Wolf said at the time ''Misconceptions: Truth, Lies, and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood'' (2001) was published "Birth today is like agribusiness. It's like a chicken plant: they go in, they go out." she told Katharine Viner. "Pregnancy, birth and motherhood" has "made me a more radical feminist than I have ever been." The book draws heavily on Wolf's experience of her first pregnancy. She describes the "vacuous impassivity" of the
ultrasound Ultrasound is sound waves with frequency, frequencies higher than the upper audible limit of human hearing range, hearing. Ultrasound is not different from "normal" (audible) sound in its physical properties, except that humans cannot hea ...
technician who gives her the first glimpse of her new baby. Wolf laments her
C-section Caesarean section, also known as C-section or caesarean delivery, is the surgical procedure by which one or more babies are delivered through an incision in the mother's abdomen, often performed because vaginal delivery would put the baby or ...
and examines why the procedure is common in the United States, advocating a return to midwifery. The second half of the book is anecdotal, focusing on inequalities between parents to child care. In the section describing being on the operating table having a caesarean, Wolf compares herself to Jesus at his Crucifixion. She outlines a "mothers' manifesto" in the book including flexi-time for both parents, neighborhood toy banks, and a radical mothers' movement. In her ''New York Times'' review,
Claire Dederer Claire Dederer (born 1967) is an American writer who regularly contributes essays, reviews and criticism to publications including ''The New York Times''. She has also authored two books, ''Love and Trouble'' and ''Poser'': ''My Life in Twenty-Thre ...
wrote that Wolf "barely pauses to acknowledge that Caesareans are, at times, a necessary and even lifesaving intervention." Wolf completes "her best writing when she's observing her own life" as a memoirist. Dederer believes her work in this idiom is not "self-indulgent. It seems vital, and in a sense radical, in the tradition of 1970's feminists who sought to speak to every aspect of women's lives."


''The Treehouse'' (2005)

Wolf's ''The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from My Father on How to Live, Love, and See'' (2005) is an account of her midlife crisis. She revalues her father's love, and his role as an artist and a teacher during a year living in a house in upper New York state. In a promotional interview with '' The Herald'' (Glasgow), Wolf related her experience of a vision of
Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
: "just this figure who was the most perfected human being - full of light and full of love. …There was light coming out of him holographically, simply because he was unclouded."


''The End of America'' (2007)

In '' The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot'' (2007), Wolf takes a historical look at the rise of fascism, outlining 10 steps necessary for a fascist group (or government) to destroy the democratic character of a nation-state. The book details how this pattern was implemented in
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, Fascist Italy, and elsewhere, and analyzes its emergence and application of all the 10 steps in American political affairs since the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
.
Alex Beam Alex Beam (born Jacob Alexander Beam in 1954)Staff report (July 2000) ''Stanford Magazine'' is an American writer and journalist. He retired as a columnist for ''The Boston Globe'' in 2012, but still contributes to the paper's op-ed page. He h ...
wrote in the ''
International Herald Tribune The ''International Herald Tribune'' (''IHT'') was a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris, France for international English-speaking readers. It had the aim of becoming "the world's first global newspaper" and could fairly be said ...
'' (reprinted in ''The New York Times''): "In the book, Wolf insists that she is not equating eorge W.Bush with Hitler, nor the United States with Nazi Germany, then proceeds to do just that." A month before the 2008 presidential election, she announced her intention to propose means to arrest President Bush. "Americans are facing a coup, as of this morning, October 1st", she said in a radio interview. Several years later in 2013,
Mark Nuckols Mark Nuckols is a writer and regular commentator on Russian television. He appears on various political talk shows. He also writes for various publications, including ''The New York Post'', ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', ''The Atlantic'', ''The ...
argued in ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' that Wolf's supposed historical parallels between incidents from the era of the European dictators and modern America are based on a highly selective reading in which Wolf omits significant details and misuses her sources. Writing for ''
The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'',
Michael C. Moynihan Michael Christopher Moynihan (born August 24, 1974) is an American journalist, National Correspondent for ''Vice News'' and co-host of ''The Fifth Column'' podcast. He was previously the cultural news editor for '' The Daily Beast/ Newsweek'', ...
characterized the book as "an astoundingly lazy piece of writing." ''The End of America'' was adapted for the screen as a documentary by filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, best known for ''
The Devil Came on Horseback ''The Devil Came on Horseback'' is a documentary film by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg illustrating the continuing Darfur Conflict in Sudan. Based on the book by former U.S. Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as t ...
'' and ''The Trials of
Darryl Hunt Darryl Hunt (February 24, 1965 – March 13, 2016) was an African-American man from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who, in 1984, was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape and the murder of Deborah Sykes, a young whi ...
''. It premiered in October 2008, and was favorably reviewed in ''The New York Times'' by Stephen Holden by ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' magazine.
Nigel Andrews Nigel Andrews FRSA (born 3 April 1947)ANDREWS, Nigel John
''Who's Who 2015'', A & C ...
in the ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' saw aspects of it positively, but "what isn't plausible or reality-related is the conclusion itself. At the door of the Third Reich, Wolf's credibility collapses." Moynihan described it as being "an even dumber documentary film" than the "dumb book". Interviewed by
Alternet AlterNet is a left-leaning online news outlet. It was launched in 1997 by the Independent Media Institute. In 2018, the website was acquired by owners of '' Raw Story''. Coverage Coverage is divided into several special sections related to progr ...
in 2010, she compared President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
to
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
dictator
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, believing aspects of the actions of both men were comparable. Wolf returned to her ''The End of America'' theme in a ''
Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' article in 2014, considering how modern Western women, born in inclusive, egalitarian liberal democracies, are assuming positions of leadership in
neofascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration se ...
political movements.


''Give Me Liberty'' (2008)

''Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries'' (2008) was written as a sequel to ''The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot''. In the book, Wolf looks at times and places in history where citizens were faced with the closing of an open society and successfully fought back.


''Vagina: A New Biography'' (2012)

Published in 2012 on the topic of the
vagina In mammals, the vagina is the elastic, muscular part of the female genital tract. In humans, it extends from the vestibule to the cervix. The outer vaginal opening is normally partly covered by a thin layer of mucosal tissue called the hymen ...
, ''Vagina: A New Biography'' was much criticized, especially by feminist authors.
Katie Roiphe Katie Roiphe (born July 13, 1968) is an American author and journalist. She is best known as the author of the non-fiction book '' The Morning After: Fear, Sex and Feminism'' (1994). She is also the author of ''Last Night in Paradise: Sex and Mora ...
described it as "ludicrous" in ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'': "I doubt the most brilliant novelist in the world could have created a more skewering satire of Naomi Wolf's career than her latest book." In ''
The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'', Katha Pollitt considered it a "silly book" containing "much dubious neuroscience and much foolishness." It becomes "loopier as it goes on. We learn that women think and feel through their vagina, which can 'grieve' and feel insulted."
Toni Bentley Toni Bentley (born 1958) is an Australian-German dancer and writer. Bentley was born in Perth, Western Australia. Family and early life Bentley's father, P. J. Bentley, is an Australian biologist and endocrinologist. Her brother, Dr. David Ben ...
wrote in ''
The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' that Wolf used "shoddy research methodology", while with "her graceless writing, Wolf opens herself to ridicule on virtually every page."
Janice Turner Janice Turner (born 8 April 1964) is a British journalist, and a columnist and feature writer for ''The Times''. Early life Turner was born in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. She went to Ridgewood School in the north of Doncaster. She attended the ...
in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' wrote that since
Mary Wollstonecraft Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...
, female "writers have argued that women should not be defined by biology", yet "Wolf, our self-styled leader, has declared that female consciousness, creativity and destiny all come back" to a woman's genitals. ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' columnist
Meghan Daum Meghan Elizabeth Daum (born February 13, 1970) is an American author, essayist, podcaster, and journalist. Childhood and education Although she was born in California, Daum grew up in Austin, Texas, and Ridgewood, New Jersey. She received her ba ...
wrote: "By asserting that what's between a woman's ears is directly informed by what's between her legs—'the vagina mediates female confidence, creativity and sense of transcendence,' Wolf writes—it acts as a perverse echo of Republican efforts to limit reproductive rights." In the book, according to
Suzanne Moore Suzanne Lynn Moore (born 17 July 1958) is an English journalist. Early life and education Moore is the daughter of an American father and a working-class British mother, who split up during her childhood. As a child, she was told that her mo ...
in ''The Guardian'', "feminism becomes simply a highly mediated form of narcissism devoid of any actual brain/politics connection." In ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'',
Zoë Heller Zoë Kate Hinde Heller (born 7 July 1965) is an English journalist and novelist long resident in New York City. She has published three novels, ''Everything You Know'' (1999), '' Notes on a Scandal'' (2003), and '' The Believers'' (2008). ''Notes ...
wrote that the book "offers an unusually clear insight into the workings of her mystic feminist philosophy". Part of the book concerns the history of the vagina's representation, but is "full of childlike generalizations" and her understanding of science "is pretty shaky too". In an interview with ''The New York Times'', Wolf rejected claims she had written more freely than her sources could sustain.
Nina Burleigh Nina D. Burleigh is an American writer and investigative journalist, the daughter of author Robert Burleigh. She writes books, articles, essays and reviews. Burleigh is a supporter of secular liberalism, and is known for her interest in issues of ...
, in ''
The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...
'', suggested that critics of the book were so vehement "because (a) their editors handed the book to them for review because they thought it was an Important Feminist Book when it's actually slight and (b) there's a grain of truth in what she's trying to say." In response to the criticism, Wolf stated in a television interview:
"Anything that shows documentation of the brain and vagina connection is going to alarm some feminists…also feminism has kind of retreated into the academy and sort of embraced the idea that all gender is socially constructed and so here is a book that is actually looking at science…though there has been some criticisms of the book from some feminists…who say, well you can't look at the science because that means we have to grapple with the science…to me the feminist task of creating a just world isn't changed at all by this fascinating neuroscience that shows some differences between men and women."
At a party to celebrate Wolf's publishing deal for this book, recounted in its pages, the male chef and host made pasta pieces shaped like a vulva, with sausages and salmon also on the menu. Perceiving the experience as a slight, Wolf apparently suffered writers' block for the next six months.


''Outrages'' (2019)

Wolf's book ''Outrages: Sex, Censorship, and the Criminalization of Love'' was published in 2019, based on the 2015 doctoral
thesis A thesis ( : theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: ...
she completed under the supervision of
Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...
, literary scholar Stefano-Maria Evangelista. In the book, she studies the repression of homosexuality in relation to attitudes towards divorce and prostitution, and also in relation to the censorship of books. ''Outrages'' was published in the UK in May 2019 by
Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on Feminism, feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several Briti ...
. On June 12, 2019, ''Outrages'' was named on the ''
O, The Oprah Magazine ''O, The Oprah Magazine'', also known simply as ''O'', is an American monthly magazine founded by talk show host Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Communications. Overview It was first published on April 19, 2000. , its average paid circulation was ...
''s "The 32 Best Books by Women of Summer 2019" list. The following day, the US publisher recalled all copies from US bookstores. In a 2019 BBC radio interview, broadcaster and author
Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990 ...
identified an error in a central tenet of the book: a misunderstanding of the legal term "
death recorded In nineteenth-century British law many crimes were punishable by death, but from 1823, the term "death recorded" was used in cases where the judge wished to record a sentence of death – as legally required – while at the same time indicating ...
", which Wolf had taken to mean that the convict had been executed but which in fact means that the convict was pardoned or the sentence was commuted. He cited a website for the
Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
Criminal Court, which Wolf had referred to as one of her sources earlier in the interview. Reviewers have described other errors of scholarship in the work. Wolf appeared at the
Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, ...
, Wales in late May 2019, a few days after her exchange with Sweet, where she defended her book and said she had already corrected the error. She stated at an event in Manhattan in June that she was not embarrassed and felt grateful towards Sweet for the correction. On October 18, 2019, it became known that the release of the book by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...
in the United States was being canceled, with copies already printed and distributed being pulled and pulped. Wolf expressed the hope that the book would still be published in the US. A UK paperback edition of the book was published by Virago in November 2020, with the incorrect references to the execution of men for sodomy that were included in the hardback edition removed. Interviewed about the new edition, Matthew Sweet said that the book continues to misread historical sources: "Dr Wolf has misrepresented the experiences of victims of child abuse and violent sexual assault. This is the most profound offence against her discipline, as well as the memories of real people on the historical record". Cultural historian Fern Riddell called the book a "calumny against gay people" in the nineteenth century and said that Wolf "presents child rapists and those taking part in acts of bestiality as being gay men in consensual relationships and that is completely wrong". ''The Daily Telegraph'' reported that there had been calls for Wolf's 2015 DPhil to be re-examined, and for Virago to withdraw the book. In a statement to ''The Guardian'', Wolf said the book had been reviewed "by leading scholars in the field", and said "it is clear that I have accurately represented the position". Oxford University stated that a "statement of clarification" to Wolf's thesis had been received and approved, and would be "available for consultation in the Bodleian Library in due course". In March 2021, ''
Times Higher Education ''Times Higher Education'' (''THE''), formerly ''The Times Higher Education Supplement'' (''The Thes''), is a British magazine reporting specifically on news and issues related to higher education. Ownership TPG Capital acquired TSL Education ...
'' reported that Wolf's original thesis remained unavailable six years after it was examined. Oxford doctoral graduates can request an embargo of up to three years, with the potential for renewal. The thesis finally became available in April 2021, with nine pages of corrections attached dealing with the misreading of historic criminal records. Wolf had submitted the thesis to the archive in December 2020, more than five years after her DPhil was awarded, and she had requested a one-year extension to the embargo period so that she could seek legal advice. The extension request was declined. ''Outrages'' has been used as an example in university teaching about the danger of misreading historical sources.


Feminist issues


Abortion

In an October 1995 article for ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hum ...
'' Wolf was critical of contemporary pro–choice positions, arguing that the movement had "developed a lexicon of
dehumanization Dehumanization is the denial of full humanness in others and the cruelty and suffering that accompanies it. A practical definition refers to it as the viewing and treatment of other persons as though they lack the mental capacities that are c ...
" and urged feminists to accept abortion as a form of homicide and defend the procedure within the ambiguity of this moral conundrum. She continued, "Abortion should be legal; it is sometimes even necessary. Sometimes the mother must be able to decide that the fetus, in its full humanity, must die." reprinted her

Wolf concluded by speculating that in a world of "real gender equality," passionate feminists "might well hold candlelight vigils at abortion clinics, standing shoulder to shoulder with the doctors who work there, commemorating and saying goodbye to the dead." In an article for '' New York (magazine), New York'' magazine on the subtle manipulation of
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
's image among women, Wolf wrote in 2005: "Abortion is an issue not of ''Ms.'' Magazine-style fanaticism or suicidal Republican religious reaction, but a complex issue."


Pornography

Wolf suggested in a 2003 article for ''New York'' magazine that the ubiquity of internet pornography tends to enervate the sexual attraction of men toward typical real women. She writes, "The onslaught of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as 'porn-worthy.' Far from having to fend off porn-crazed young men, young women are worrying that as mere flesh and blood, they can scarcely get, let alone hold, their attention." Wolf advocated abstaining from porn not on moral grounds but because "greater supply of the stimulant equals diminished capacity."


Women in Islamic countries

Wolf has commented about the dress required of women living in Muslim countries. 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 ...
'' in August 2008, she wrote, "The West interprets veiling as repression of women and suppression of their sexuality. But when I traveled in Muslim countries and was invited to join a discussion in women–only settings within Muslim homes, I learned that Muslim attitudes toward women's appearance and sexuality are not rooted in repression, but in a strong sense of public versus private, of what is due to God and what is due to one's husband. It is not that Islam suppresses sexuality, but that it embodies a strongly developed sense of its appropriate channeling—toward marriage, the bonds that sustain family life, and the attachment that secures a home."


Other views


Conspiracy theories

In the January 2013 issue of ''
The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', law and business professor
Mark Nuckols Mark Nuckols is a writer and regular commentator on Russian television. He appears on various political talk shows. He also writes for various publications, including ''The New York Post'', ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', ''The Atlantic'', ''The ...
wrote: "In her various books, articles, and public speeches, Wolf has demonstrated recurring disregard for the historical record and consistently mutilated the truth with selective and ultimately deceptive use of her sources." He further stated: " en she distorts facts to advance her political agenda, she dishonors the victims of history and poisons present-day public discourse about issues of vital importance to a free society." Nuckols argued that Wolf "has for many years now been claiming that a
fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
coup in America is imminent… ''The Guardian'' she alleged, with no substantiation, that the U.S. government and big American banks are conspiring to impose a 'totally integrated corporate-state repression of dissent'." '' Vox'' journalist Max Fisher in October 2014 urged Wolf's readers "to understand the distinction between her earlier work, which rose on its merits, and her newer conspiracy theories, which are unhinged, damaging, and dangerous."
Charles C. W. Cooke Charles Christopher William Cooke (born 4 November 1984), professionally known simply as Charles C. W. Cooke, is a British-born American journalist and a senior writer at National Review Online. Early life and education Cooke and his sister gre ...
, writing for '' National Review Online'' in the same month, commented, "Over the last eight years, Naomi Wolf has written hysterically about coups and about vaginas and about little else besides. She has repeatedly insisted that the country is on the verge of martial law, and transmogrified every threat—both pronounced and overhyped—into a government-led plot to establish a dictatorship. She has made prediction after prediction that has simply not come to pass. Hers are not sober and sensible forecasts of runaway human nature, institutional atrophy, and constitutional decline, but psychedelic fever-dreams that are more typically suited to the ''
InfoWars ''InfoWars'' is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC. Talk shows and other content for the site are created primarily in stud ...
'' crowd." Aaron Goldstein wrote in an October 2014 article in ''
The American Spectator ''The American Spectator'' is a conservative American magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. It was founded in 1967 by Tyrrell, who remains its editor- ...
,'' "Her words must be taken not just with a grain of salt, but a full shaker's worth." In the same month,
Sarah Ditum Sarah Ditum is an English opinion columnist and freelance writer whose work has appeared in publications including ''The Guardian'', ''New Statesman, The Times'', and ''UnHerd''. She is based in Bath, Somerset, Bath. Ditum's writing has covered i ...
wrote in the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'', "Perhaps it's not that Wolf is a feminist who's degenerated into conspiracism, but instead that she's a conspiracy theorist who happened to fall into feminism first. ''The Beauty Myth'' is a conspiracy theory of a sort, and sometimes conspiracies are real: the self-replicating power structure of patriarchy is one of them."


Defense of Julian Assange

Shortly after the
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
founder Julian Assange was arrested in 2010, she wrote in an article for ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' that the allegations made against him by two women amounted to no more than bad manners from a boyfriend. His accusers, she later wrote in several contexts, were working for the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
and Assange had been falsely incriminated. On December 20, 2010, ''
Democracy Now! ''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...
'' featured a debate between Wolf and Jaclyn Friedman on the Assange case. According to Wolf, the alleged victims should have said no, asserted that they consented to having sex with him, and said the claims were politically motivated and demeaned the cause of legitimate rape victims. In a 2011 ''Guardian'' article she argued that the accuser in rape cases should not retain anonymity. She said anonymity in such cases was "a relic of the Victorian era" which "serves institutions that do not want to prosecute rapists". She said "this is particularly clear in the Assange case, where public opinion matters far more than usual". Writing in ''The Nation'',
Katha Pollitt Katha Pollitt (born October 14, 1949) is an American poet, essayist and critic. She is the author of four essay collections and two books of poetry. Her writing focuses on political and social issues from a left-leaning perspective, including abo ...
said Wolf's argument was that anonymity "impedes law enforcement", which Pollitt said "is a little bizarre: doesn't Wolf realize that anonymity applies only to the media? Everyone in the justice system knows who the complainants are."
Laurie Penny Laurie Penny (born Laura Barnett, 28 September 1986) is a British journalist and writer. Penny has written articles for publications including ''The Guardian,'' ''The New York Times'' and ''Salon''. Penny is a contributing editor at the ''New ...
wrote in the ''
New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...
'' in September 2012 that "Wolf has done great damage by using her platform as one of the world's most famous feminists to dismiss these women's allegations."


Occupy Wall Street

On October 18, 2011, Wolf was arrested and detained in New York during the
Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...
protests, having ignored a police warning not to remain on the street in front of a building. Wolf spent about 30 minutes in a cell. She disputed the NYPD's interpretation of applicable laws: "I was taken into custody for disobeying an unlawful order. The issue is that I actually know New York City permit law…I didn't choose to get myself arrested. I chose to obey the law and that didn't protect me." A month later, Wolf argued in ''The Guardian'', citing leaked documents, that attacks on the
Occupy movement The Occupy movement was an international populist socio-political movement that expressed opposition to social and economic inequality and to the perceived lack of "real democracy" around the world. It aimed primarily to advance social and econo ...
were a coordinated plot, orchestrated by federal law enforcement agencies. Those leaks, she alleged, showed that the FBI was privately treating OWS as a terrorist threat, rather than the public assertions acknowledging it is a peaceful organization. The response to this article ranged from praise to criticism of Wolf for being overly speculative and creating a
conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...
. Wolf responded that there is ample evidence for her argument, and proceeded to review the information available to her at the time of the article, and what she alleged was new evidence since that time. Imani Gandy of Balloon Juice wrote that "nothing substantiates Wolf's claims", that "Wolf's article has no factual basis whatsoever and is, therefore, a journalistic failure of the highest order" and that "it was incumbent upon (Wolf) to fully research her claims and to provide facts to back them up."
Corey Robin Corey Robin (born 1967) is an American political theorist, journalist and professor of political science at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He has written books on the role of fear in political life, tr ...
, a political theorist, journalist, and associate professor of political science at
Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...
and the
Graduate Center The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the C ...
of the
City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the Public university, public university system of Education in New York City, New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven Upper divis ...
, stated on his
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
: "The reason Wolf gets her facts wrong is that she's got her theory wrong." In early 2012, WikiLeaks began publishing the Global Intelligence Files, a trove of e-mails obtained via a hack by Anonymous and
Jeremy Hammond Jeremy Hammond (born January 8, 1985) is an American activist and former computer hacker from Chicago. He founded the computer security training website HackThisSiteLuman, Stuart. ''Chicago'' Magazine, July 2007"The Hacktivist" in 2003.Hayes, ...
. Among them was an email with an official
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
document from October 2011 attached. It indicated that DHS was closely watching Occupy, and concluded, "While the peaceful nature of the protests has served so far to mitigate their impact, larger numbers and support from groups such as Anonymous substantially increase the risk for potential incidents and enhance the potential security risk to critical infrastructure." In late December 2012,
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
documents released following an FOIA request from the
Partnership for Civil Justice Fund The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) is a nonprofit Progressivism in the United States, progressive legal organization based in Washington, D.C. Founded by Carl Messineo and Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, the organization focuses on cases regard ...
revealed that the FBI used counterterrorism agents and other resources to extensively monitor the national Occupy movement. The documents contained no references to agency personnel covertly infiltrating Occupy branches, but did indicate that the FBI gathered information from police departments and other law enforcement agencies relating to planned protests. Additionally, the blog
Techdirt Techdirt is an American Internet blog that reports on technology's legal challenges and related business and economic policy issues, in context of the digital revolution. It focuses on intellectual property, patent, information privacy and cop ...
reported that the documents disclosed a plot by unnamed parties "to murder OWS leadership in Texas" but that "the FBI never bothered to inform the targets of the threats against their lives." In a December 2012 ''Guardian'' article, Wolf wrote:
It was more sophisticated than we had imagined: new documents show that the violent crackdown on Occupy last fall 011so mystifying at the time—was not just coordinated at the level of the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and local police. The crackdown, which involved, as you may recall, violent arrests, group disruption, canister missiles to the skulls of protesters, people held in handcuffs so tight they were injured, people held in bondage till they were forced to wet or soil themselves—was coordinated with the big banks themselves. How simple…just to label an entity a 'terrorist organization' and choke off, disrupt or indict its sources of financing. he FBI crackdown on Occupywas never really about 'the terrorists'. It was not even about civil unrest. It was always about this moment, when vast crimes might be uncovered by citizens—it was always, that is to say, meant to be about you.
''
Mother Jones Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
'' claimed that none of the documents revealed efforts by federal law enforcement agencies to disband the Occupy camps, and that the documents did not provide much evidence that federal officials attempted to suppress protesters' free speech rights. It was, said ''Mother Jones'', "a far cry from Wolf's contention."


Edward Snowden

In June 2013, ''New York'' magazine reported Wolf, in a recent
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
post, had expressed her "creeping concern" that
NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...
leaker
Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and naturalized Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, when he was an employee and su ...
"is not who he purports to be, and that the motivations involved in the story may be more complex than they appear to be." Wolf was similarly skeptical of Snowden's "very pretty pole-dancing Facebooking girlfriend who appeared for, well, no reason in the media coverage…and who keeps leaking commentary, so her picture can be recycled in the press." She pondered whether he was planted by "the Police State". Wolf responded on her website: "I do find a great deal of media/blog discussion about serious questions such as those I raised, questions that relate to querying some sources of news stories, and their potential relationship to intelligence agencies or to other agendas that may not coincide with the overt narrative, to be extraordinarily ill-informed and naive." Specifically regarding Snowden, she wrote, "Why should it be seen as bizarre to wonder, if there are some potential red flags—the key term is 'wonder'—if a former NSA spy turned apparent whistleblower might possibly still be—working for the same people he was working for before?" She was accused by the ''
Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...
'' website of making factual errors and misreadings.


Islamic State executions and other assertions

In a series of Facebook postings in October 2014, Wolf questioned the authenticity of videos purporting to show beheadings of two American journalists and two Britons by the
Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
, implying that they had been staged by the US government and that the victims and their parents were actors. Wolf also charged that the US was dispatching military troops not to assist in treating the
Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in Western Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and S ...
, but to carry the disease back home to justify a military takeover of America. She further said that the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, in which Scotland voted to remain in the United Kingdom, was faked. Speaking about this at a demonstration in Glasgow on October 12, Wolf said, "I truly believe it was rigged." Responding to such criticism, Wolf said, "All the people who are attacking me right now for 'conspiracy theories' have no idea what they are talking about ... people who assume the dominant narrative MUST BE TRUE and the dominant reasons MUST BE REAL are not experienced in how that world works." To her nearly 100,000 Facebook followers, Wolf maintained, "I stand by what I wrote." However, in a later Facebook post, Wolf retracted her statement: "I am not asserting that the ISIS videos have been staged," she wrote.
I certainly sincerely apologize if one of my posts was insensitively worded. I have taken that one down. ... I am not saying the ISIS beheading videos are not authentic. I am not saying they are not records of terrible atrocities. I am saying that they are not yet independently confirmed by two sources as authentic, which any Journalism School teaches, and the single source for several of them,
SITE Site most often refers to: * Archaeological site * Campsite, a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area * Construction site * Location, a point or an area on the Earth's surface or elsewhere * Website, a set of related web pages, typical ...
, which received half a million dollars in government funding in 2004, and which is the only source cited for several, has conflicts of interest that should be disclosed to readers of news outlets.
Max Fisher commented that "the videos were widely distributed on open-source jihadist online outlets" while the "Maryland-based nonprofit SITE monitors extremist social media." Wolf deleted her original Facebook posts.


COVID-19 pandemic

During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Wolf has frequently promoted
COVID-19 misinformation False information, including intentional disinformation and conspiracy theories, about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic and the origin, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the disease has been spread through social media, text messagin ...
,
misinformation related to vaccination Misinformation related to immunization circulates in mass media and social media in spite of the fact that there is no serious hesitancy or debate within mainstream medical and scientific circles about the benefits of vaccination. Intentional s ...
and 5G conspiracy theories. Following the election of Joe Biden as US president, Wolf tweeted on 9 November 2020: "If I'd known Biden was open to '
lockdowns A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...
' as he now states, which is something historically unprecedented in any pandemic, and a terrifying practice, one that won't ever end because elites love it, I would never have voted for him". In February 2021, Wolf appeared on ''
Tucker Carlson Tonight ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' is an American talk show and current affairs program hosted by conservative commentator Tucker Carlson on the television network Fox News. The show premiered in November 2016 and includes political commentary, monolog ...
'' on
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
, where she said that government COVID-19 restrictions were turning the U.S. "into a totalitarian state before everyone's eyes," and went on to say that "I really hope we wake up quickly, because history also shows that it's a small window in which people can fight back before it is too dangerous to fight back." In an interview for
Sky News Australia Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...
in early March 2021, Wolf claimed that lockdown policies are an "invention" of Chinese leader
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
. She also claimed that "Every human right in law is being violated", that Australians are being "lied to over and over", and that Australians are being psychologically tortured. On April 19, 2021, Wolf alleged that
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, ) is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). NIAID's ...
director Anthony Fauci, Biden's chief medical advisor, "doesn't work for us," asserting he had loyalties to
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
that interfered with service to public health. Wolf pointed to $1 million she said Fauci had received from the state of Israel. It was actually the
Dan David Prize The Dan David Prize is a major international award that recognizes and supports outstanding contributions to the study of history and other disciplines that shed light on the human past. It awards nine prizes of $300,000 each year to outstanding ...
, a prestigious private award that Fauci received in 2021 for public service. Wolf opposes
COVID-19 vaccine passports A vaccine passport or proof of vaccination is an immunity passport employed as a credential in countries and jurisdictions as part of efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic via vaccination. A vaccine passport is typically issued by a governm ...
, saying that they represent "the absolute end of the line for human liberty in the West." Wolf has frequently shared
conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...
concerning the safety and efficacy of vaccines against COVID-19. In April 2021, Wolf was instrumental in amplifying and spreading myths that the vaccines cause female infertility. Wolf's conspiratorial and anti-vaccine stance has been criticized as being irresponsible, and she has also been the subject of ridicule. Twitter suspended her account in June 2021, a decision the company has said is permanent according to the London ''
Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in co ...
''. At the end of July 2021, it was reported by ''The Daily Beast'' that Wolf was a co-plaintiff in former-President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
's social media lawsuit. According to Wolf, Twitter's suspension of her account led her to lose "over half of her business model, investors in her business, and other sources of income." Wolf appeared on the May 23, 2022 edition of ''
The Charlie Kirk Show Charles J. Kirk (born 1993) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative activist and radio talk show host. He founded Turning Point USA with Bill Montgomery (activist), Bill Montgomery in 2012, and has served as its executive ...
'', where she stated: "There are military-age men pouring over the border from places like Afghanistan and Ukraine. And the easiest thing in the world to send them to God knows where, you know, and to arm them to assist the World Health Organization". She argued that the
Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
made it harder for government to subjugate the population, but that this was a possibility. Wolf stated: "I really hope that it doesn't devolve into civil war, which is really what the next thing is in history when you have an occupying force, which is what the WHO will be, you know, by next week". In October 2022, Wolf appeared on UK TV channel
GB News GB News is a British free-to-air television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet. Since 4 January 2022, an audio simulcast of the station is available on DAB+ ...
, claiming in an interview that COVID-19 vaccines are part of an effort "to destroy British civil society".
Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
, the UK broadcasting regulatory agency, announced an investigation into GB News after receiving more than 400 complaints from members of the public.


Personal life

Wolf's first marriage was in 1993 to journalist
David Shipley David Julian Shipley (born June 10, 1963) is an American journalist and the editorial page editor at ''The Washington Post''. Life and career Shipley graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from Williams College. In 1986, he worked as an ...
, then an editor at ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. The couple had two children, a son and daughter. Wolf and Shipley divorced in 2005. On November 23, 2018, Wolf married Brian William O'Shea, a US Army veteran, private detective, and owner of Striker Pierce Investigations. According to a ''New York Times'' article published in November 2018, Wolf and O'Shea met in 2014 following threats on the internet made against Wolf after she reported on human rights violations in the Middle East and contacts recommended O'Shea.


Alleged "sexual encroachment" incident at Yale

In 2004, in an article for ''New York'' magazine, Wolf accused literary scholar
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
of a "sexual encroachment" in late Fall 1983 for touching her inner thigh. She said that what she alleged Bloom did was not harassment, either legally or emotionally, and she did not think herself a "victim", but that she had harbored this secret for 21 years. Explaining why she had finally gone public with the charges, Wolf wrote,
I began, nearly a year ago, to try—privately—to start a conversation with my alma mater that would reassure me that steps had been taken in the ensuing years to ensure that unwanted sexual advances of this sort weren't still occurring. I expected Yale to be responsive. After nine months and many calls and e-mails, I was shocked to conclude that the atmosphere of collusion that had helped to keep me quiet twenty years ago was still intact—as secretive as a Masonic lodge. Sexual encroachment in an educational context or a workplace is, most seriously, a corruption of meritocracy; it is in this sense parallel to bribery. I was not traumatized personally, but my educational experience was corrupted. If we rephrase sexual transgression in school and work as a civil-rights and civil-society issue, everything becomes less emotional, less personal. If we see this as a systemic corruption issue, then when people bring allegations, the focus will be on whether the institution has been damaged in its larger mission.
In ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' magazine around the time the allegations against Bloom first surfaced,
Meghan O'Rourke Meghan O'Rourke (born 1976 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American nonfiction writer, poet and critic. Background and education O'Rourke was born January 26, 1976, in Brooklyn, New York. The eldest of three children born to Paul and Barbara O ...
wrote that Wolf generalized about sexual assault at Yale on the basis of her alleged personal experience. Moreover, O'Rourke commented, that despite Wolf's assertion sexual assault existed at Yale, she did not interview any Yale students for her story. In addition, O'Rourke wrote, "She jumps through verbal hoops to make it clear she was not 'personally traumatized,' yet she spends paragraphs describing the incident in precisely those terms." O'Rourke wrote that, despite Wolf's claim that her educational experience was corrupted, "(s)he neglects to mention that she later was awarded a
Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
(scholarship)." O'Rourke concluded Wolf's "gaps and imprecision" in the ''New York'' article "give fodder to skeptics who think sexual harassment charges are often just a form of hysteria." Separately, a formal complaint was filed with the
US Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
Office for Civil Rights The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on enforcing civil rights laws prohibiting schools from engaging in discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex ...
on March 15, 2011, by 16 current and former Yale students—12 female and 4 male—describing a sexually hostile environment at Yale. A
federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
investigation of Yale University began in March 2011 in response to the complaints. Wolf stated on CBS's ''
The Early Show ''The Early Show'' is an American morning television show that aired on CBS from November 1, 1999 to January 7, 2012, and the ninth attempt at a morning news-talk program by the network since 1954. The program aired Monday through Friday from ...
'' in April: "Yale has been systematically covering up much more serious crimes than the ones that can be easily identified." More specifically, she alleged "they use the sexual harassment grievance procedure in a very cynical way, purporting to be supporting victims, but actually using a process to stonewall victims, to isolate them, and to protect the university." Yale settled the federal complaint in June 2012, acknowledging "inadequacies" but not facing "disciplinary action with the understanding that it keeps in place policy changes instituted after the complaint was filed. The school (was) required to report on its progress to the Office of Civil Rights until May, 2014." In January 2018, Wolf accused Yale officials of blocking her from filing a formal grievance against Bloom. She told ''The New York Times'' that she had attempted to file the complaint in 2015 with Yale's University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct, but that the university had refused to accept it. On January 16, 2018, Wolf said, she determined to see Yale's provost,
Ben Polak Benjamin "Ben" Polak (born 22 December 1961) is a British professor of economics and management and former Provost at Yale University. From 1999-2001 Polak was the Henry Kohn Associate Professor of Economics and is now the inaugural William C. ...
, in another attempt to present her case. "As she documented on
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
," the newspaper reported, "she brought a suitcase and a sleeping bag, because she said she did not know how long she would have to stay. When she arrived at the provost's office, she said, security guards prevented her from entering any elevators. Eventually, she said, Aley Menon, the secretary of the sexual misconduct committee, appeared and they met in the committee's offices for an hour, during which she gave Ms. Menon a copy of her complaint." This was reported and confirmed by Norman Vanamee who apparently met Wolf at Yale on this morning. In '' Town & Country'' magazine in January 2018, Vanamee returned to the story and wrote, "Yale University has a 93-person police department, and, after the guard called for backup, three of its armed and uniformed officers appeared and stationed themselves between Wolf and the elevator bank." During an interview for ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine in spring 2015, Bloom denied ever being indoors with "this person" whom he referred to as "Dracula's daughter."


Selected works


Books

* * * * * * * , co-authored with Daniel Goleman * * * *


Book chapters

*


Notes


References


External links


Naomi Wolf on "Fake Democracies"
(November 2014), '' Breaking the Set'', RT
Column archive
at ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
Naomi Wolf's blog
at ''
The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolf, Naomi 1962 births Living people 5G conspiracy theorists Activists from California Alumni of New College, Oxford American anti-vaccination activists American conspiracy theorists American democracy activists American feminist writers American people of Romanian-Jewish descent American political consultants American political writers American Rhodes Scholars COVID-19 conspiracy theorists Jewish American writers Jewish feminists Jewish women writers Lowell High School (San Francisco) alumni Nautilus Book Award winners Postmodern feminists Sex-positive feminists Writers about activism and social change Writers from San Francisco Yale College alumni 21st-century American Jews