Grace Atkinson (born November 9, 1938), better known as Ti-Grace Atkinson, is an American

radical feminist Radical feminism is a perspective within feminism that calls for a radical re-ordering of society in which male supremacy is eliminated in all social and economic contexts, while recognizing that women's experiences are also affected by other ...

activist, writer and philosopher.

Life and career

Atkinson was born into a prominent Louisiana family. Named after her grandmother, Grace, the "Ti" is Cajun French for , meaning "little". Atkinson earned her

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students for pursuing a professional education in the visual, fine or performing arts. It is also called Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA) in some cases. Background The Bachel ...

(BFA) from the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

in 1964. While still in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, she helped found the Institute of Contemporary Art, acting as its first director, and was sculpture critic for the periodical ''

ARTnews ''ARTnews'' is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. ARTnews is the oldest and most widely distributed art magazine in the world. It has a readership of 180,000 in 124 countr ...

''. She later moved to New York City where, in 1967, she entered the PhD program in philosophy at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, where she studied with the philosopher and art critic

Arthur Danto Arthur Coleman Danto (January 1, 1924 – October 25, 2013) was an American art critic, philosopher, and professor at Columbia University. He was best known for having been a long-time art critic for '' The Nation'' and for his work in philosop ...

.Lynne E. Ford
"Ti-Grace Atkinson"
entry, ''Encyclopedia of Women and American Politics'',

Infobase Publishing Infobase Publishing is an American publisher of reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, including ...

, January 1, 2009, pp. 40–41, ''accessed August 2013''. Atkinson later moved on to study the work of

Gottlob Frege Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (; ; 8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic p ...

with philosopher Charles Parsons. She taught at several colleges and universities over the years, including the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

and

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

. As an undergraduate, Atkinson read

Simone de Beauvoir Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (, ; ; 9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French existentialist philosopher, writer, social theorist, and feminist activist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, and even ...

's ''

The Second Sex ''The Second Sex'' (french: Le Deuxième Sexe, link=no) is a 1949 book by the French existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, in which the author discusses the treatment of women in the present society as well as throughout all of histor ...

'', and struck up a correspondence with Beauvoir, who suggested that she contact

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 ...

. Atkinson became an early member of the National Organization for Women, which Friedan had co-founded, serving on the national board, and becoming the New York chapter president in 1967. Her time with the organization was tumultuous, including a row with the national leadership over her attempts to defend and promote Valerie Solanas and her '' SCUM Manifesto'' in the wake of the

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

shooting. In 1968, she left the organization because it would not confront issues like

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 pre ...

and marriage inequalities. She founded the October 17th Movement, which later became The Feminists, a radical feminist group active until 1973; however, she left the group in 1971. By then, she had written several pamphlets on feminism, was a member of the Daughters of Bilitis and was advocating specifically political lesbianism. Her book ''Amazon Odyssey'' was published in 1974. In 1971, Patricia Buckley Bozell, a Catholic and conservative activist, slapped or attempted to slap (unclear if physical contact was actually made) Atkinson after the latter made what Mrs. Bozell described as "an illiterate harangue against the mystical body of Christ". The incident occurred on the platform of

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Roman Catholic research university in Washington, D.C. It is a pontifical university of the Catholic Church in the United States and the only institution of higher education founded by U.S. ...

's auditorium while Atkinson was discussing the virginity of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

. "Sisterhood", Atkinson famously said, "is powerful. It kills. Mostly sisters." In 2013, Atkinson, along with Carol Hanisch, Kathy Scarbrough, and Kathie Sarachild, initiated "Forbidden Discourse: The Silencing of Feminist Criticism of 'Gender'", which they described as an "open statement from 48 radical feminists from seven countries". In August 2014,

Michelle Goldberg Michelle Goldberg (born 1975)"Michelle Goldberg". Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2016. Retrieved via Biography in Context database, January 28, 2017. is an American journalist and author, and an op-ed columnist for '' The New York Ti ...

in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' described it as expressing their "alarm" at "threats and attacks, some of them physical, on individuals and organizations daring to challenge the currently fashionable concept of gender."Michelle Goldberg
"What Is a Woman? The dispute between radical feminism and transgenderism"
''

'', August 4, 2014.

Bibliography

Books

* ''Amazon Odyssey'' (1974)

Pamphlets and book chapters

* "The Institution of Sexual Intercourse" (pamphlet, 1968, published by The Feminists) * "Vaginal orgasm as a mass hysterical survival response" (pamphlet, 1968, published by The Feminists) * "Radical Feminism" (pamphlet, 1969, published by The Feminists) * "Radical Feminism and Love" (pamphlet, 1969, published by The Feminists) *

References

External links

Ti-Grace Atkinson speaks to the Feminist Art program at the California State University at Fresno
Retrieved April 23, 2007 *
Papers of Ti-Grace Atkinson, 1938-2013.Schlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Ti-Grace 1938 births 20th-century American women writers 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century American women writers 21st-century LGBT people American feminist writers American lesbian writers American women's rights activists Cajun people Columbia University alumni Daughters of Bilitis members The Feminists members Lesbian feminists LGBT people from Louisiana Living people Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts alumni Political lesbians Radical feminists Writers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana