Susan Griffin
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Susan Griffin (born January 26, 1943) is a
radical feminist Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a Political radicalism, radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are al ...
philosopher, essayist and playwright particularly known for her innovative, hybrid-form
ecofeminist Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
works.


Life

Griffin was born in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, California, in 1943 and has resided in California since then. Following her father's death when she was 16, she bounced around the family but ended up with a Jewish family. Her biological family were of Irish, Scottish, Welsh and German ancestry. Having spent a year in a post-War Jewish home, her German heritage wasn't openly spoken of and she initially demonized Germans, but later made several trips to Germany (including to the
Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour fr ...
) to reconcile her Jewish and German heritages. She attended the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
, Berkeley for two years, then transferred to
San Francisco State College San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...
, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing (1965) and her Master of Arts degree (1973), both degrees under the tutelage of
Kay Boyle Kay Boyle (February 19, 1902 – December 27, 1992) was an American novelist, short story writer, educator, and political activist. She was a Guggenheim Fellow and O. Henry Award winner. Early years The granddaughter of a publisher, Boyle was ...
. She has taught as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley as well as at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
and
California Institute of Integral Studies California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is a private university in San Francisco, California.Otterman, Sharon. "Merging Spirituality and Clinical Psychology at Columbia". ''New York Times'', Aug. 9, 2012Aanstoos, C. Serlin, I., & Greenin ...
. Griffin has taught at the California Institute for Integral Studies, Pacifica Graduate Institute,
the Wright Institute The Wright Institute is a private graduate school focused on psychology and located in Berkeley, California. History The institute was founded by Nevitt Sanford in 1968 when he left Stanford. Dr. Sanford first gained prominence as a co-author of ...
, and the University of California. She currently lives in
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
. Griffin's papers are located at the
Schlesinger Library The Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America is a research library at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University. According to Nancy F. Cott, the Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Foundation Director, ...
, Radcliffe Institute, at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.


Work

Griffin has written 21 books, including works of nonfiction, poetry, anthologies, plays, and a
screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
. Her work has been translated into over 12 languages. Griffin describes her work as "draw ngconnections between the destruction of nature, the diminishment of women and racism, and trac ngthe causes of war to denial in both private and public life." "Rape: The All-American Crime" (1971), an article published in ''Ramparts'', was one of the first publications about rape from a feminist perspective. ''Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her'' (1978) has sold more than 100,000 copies, and draws connections between ecological destruction, sexism, and racism. Considered a form of prose-poetry, this work is believed to have launched
ecofeminism Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
in the United States. Griffin attributes her connection to ecofeminism to her upbringing along the Pacific Coast, which she believes cultivated her awareness of ecology. Griffin articulated her anti-pornography feminism in ''Pornography and Silence: Culture's Revenge Against Nature'' (1981). In this work she makes the case that although the pursuit of freedom of speech, could lead to a position against the censorship of pornography, in the case of pornography the freedom to create pornography leads to a compromise of "human liberation" when this term includes liberation for all of humankind including the emancipation of women. She argues against the elision of pornography and
eros In Greek mythology, Eros (, ; grc, Ἔρως, Érōs, Love, Desire) is the Greek god of love and sex. His Roman counterpart was Cupid ("desire").''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. In the earli ...
, arguing that they are separate and opposing ideas. According to Griffin, pornography's origins are rooted in a widespread fear of nature, and in a pornographic culture, men are told to take on the role of the "Killer", while women become the "victims". This, according to Griffin, teaches women to self-deprecate, and fuels an unhealthy, perverted culture. In contrast, Griffin argues that "real sexual liberation requires a reconciliation with nature, a healing between body and spirit". Critics largely responded to ''Pornography and Culture'' with contempt, many complaining that it came off as more of a rant than realistic philosophical discussion.


Awards

Griffin has received a MacArthur grant for Peace and International Cooperation, NEA and Guggenheim Foundation fellowships, and an
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
for the play ''Voices''. She is featured in the 2014 feminist history film ''
She's Beautiful When She's Angry ''She's Beautiful When She's Angry'' is a 2014 American documentary film about some of the women involved in the second wave feminism movement in the United States. It was directed by Mary Dore and co-produced by Nancy Kennedy. It was the firs ...
''. She was a finalist for the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for General Nonfiction in 1993 for ''A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War.''


Criticism

Many critics praise Griffin's blunt takes and insights to the role of feminism in every major issue today, while others have criticized her writings for being too convoluted or ranting. Largely, reviews for Griffin's work take opposing views on the intertwining and complicated connections she suggests between the woman and larger worldly issues such as war, disease, pornography, and nature itself. These webs are mirrored in her unique writing style which critics have reflected upon extensively. In a 1994 review by Carol H. Cantrell, Griffins' ''Woman and Nature'' is dubbed "hard to describe. Most of it looks like prose on the page but the thought is fragmented, metaphorical, and discontinuous; there are plenty of stories, but they too are often elliptical and metaphorical." In a review of ''What Her Body Thought: A Journey into the Shadows'', Susan Dion of ''The Women's Review of Books'' wrote, "...Griffin is not merely reiterating old themes in feminist scholarship or the history of medicine; rather, she probes, ponders, and suggests different ways of considering many interrelated issues...Griffin's musings and hypotheses are fresh, smart, and instructive, if not always convincing."


Published works


''Woman and Nature: the Roaring Inside Her''
(1978) Ecofeminist treatise (1st Edition, has since been reprinted)
''Rape: The Power of Consciousness''
(1979) OCLC 781089176
''Pornography and Silence: Culture's Revenge Against Nature''
(1981) OCLC 964062418 *"Sadomasochism and the erosion of self: a critical reading of Story of O," in '' Against Sadomasochism: A Radical Feminist Analysis'', ed. Robin Ruth Linden (East Palo Alto, Calif. : Frog in the Well, 1982.), pp. 183–201 *''Unremembered Country'': poems (
Copper Canyon Press Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, founded in 1972 specializing exclusively in the publication of poetry. It is located in Port Townsend, Washington. Copper Canyon Press publishes new collections of poetry by both popu ...
, 1987) OCLC 16905255
''A Chorus of Stones: the Private Life of War''
(1993) Psychological aspects of violence, war, womanhood OCLC 1005479046
''The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender and Society''
(1995) OCLC 924501690 *''Bending Home: Selected New Poems, 1967-1998'' (Copper Canyon Press, 1998) OCLC 245705378
''What Her Body Thought: a Journey into the Shadows''
(1999)
''The Book of the Courtesans: a Catalogue of Their Virtues''
(2001)
''Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen''
(2008)
''Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of the World''
co-edited with Karen Lofthus Carrington (University of California Press, 2011)


References


External links

*
Poetry Foundation Biography

Susan Griffin's reading lectures, RealAudioPapers of Susan Griffin, 1914-2015 (inclusive), 1943-2015 (bulk): A Finding Aid.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Susan 1943 births American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American people of Scottish descent American people of Welsh descent American feminist writers Jewish anti-racism activists Jewish feminists Anti-pornography feminists Ecofeminists Emmy Award winners Jewish American writers Jewish poets American lesbian writers Living people Writers from Los Angeles Lesbian feminists American women poets LGBT Jews LGBT dramatists and playwrights American women essayists Radical feminists American LGBT poets American women dramatists and playwrights Writers from Berkeley, California 20th-century American poets 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women