Lindy West
Lindy West (born March 9, 1982) is an American writer, comedian and activist. She is the author of the essay collection Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. The topics she writes about include feminism, popular culture, and the fat acceptance movement.[1][2][3][4]
Lindy West | |
|---|---|
West in 2016 | |
| Born | March 9, 1982 Seattle, Washington, United States |
| Education | Occidental College |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, comedian, activist |
| Notable work | Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman |
| Spouse | Ahamefule J. Oluo (m. 2015) |
| Website | lindywest |
Career
In 2009, West began working as the film editor for Seattle's alternative weekly newspaper, The Stranger.[2] In 2011, she moved to Los Angeles, but continued to write for The Stranger until September 2012.[2][5][6]
She was a staff writer for Jezebel[7][8] where she wrote on racism, sexism, and fat shaming.[3][9] West's work has been published in The Daily Telegraph,[10] GQ,[11] the New York Daily News,[12] Vulture.com,[13] Deadspin, Cracked.com,[14] MSNBC[15] and The Guardian.[2][16] Describing West's often-comedic approach to serious issues, Dayna Tortorici wrote in The New York Times that West:
has changed more minds this way than you could count. One of the most distinctive voices advancing feminist politics through humor, West is behind a handful of popular pieces — "How to Make a Rape Joke" on Jezebel, "Hello, I Am Fat" on The Stranger’s blog, "Ask Not for Whom the Bell Trolls; It Trolls for Thee" on "This American Life" — that have helped shift mainstream attitudes about body image, comedy and online harassment over the past several years. Culture molds who we are, West argues, but it’s ours to remold in turn.[17]
In 2013 West won the Women's Media Center Social Media Award, which was presented by Jane Fonda in New York City.[18] Accepting the award, West said, "I hear a lot these days about the lazy, aimless 'millennials' – about how all we want to do is sit around twerking our iPods and Tweedling our Kardashians – and I also hear people asking, 'Where is the next generation of the social justice movement? Where are all the young feminists and womanists and activists?' Dude, they're on the internet."[18][19]
On September 19, 2015, West co-founded Shout Your Abortion, a social media campaign on Twitter where people share their abortion experiences online without "sadness, shame or regret" for the purpose of "destigmatization, normalization, and putting an end to shame". The social media campaign was initiated in response to efforts by the United States House of Representatives to defund Planned Parenthood following the Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy.[20][21][22][23][24][25]
In 2016, West won The Stranger's Genius Award in Literature for her book Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman.[26][27]
On July 1, 2017, West became a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, after having written two op-ed columns for the Times in 2016. [1] She writes a weekly column on feminism and popular culture.[1]
On March 15, 2019, Shrill, the television series adaptation of West's memoir starring Aidy Bryant, premiered on Hulu. West is an executive producer and writer for the show. [28]
West's second essay collection, The Witches Are Coming, was published on November 5, 2019, by Hachette Book Group.
In October 2020 Hachette Books released West's book Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema.[29]
Personal life
Originally from Seattle, Washington, West is the daughter of Ingrid, who is a nurse, and Paul West, who was a musician.[30] She attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.[2][31]
On July 11, 2015, West married musician and writer Ahamefule J. Oluo, younger brother of Seattle writer Ijeoma Oluo.[32][33][34][35]
Bibliography
- West, Lindy (November 5, 2019). The Witches Are Coming. Hachette Books (published 2019). p. 272. ISBN 978-0316449885.[36]
- West, Lindy (May 17, 2016). Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman. New York City: Hachette Books (published 2016). p. 272. ISBN 978-0316348409. LCCN 2016001577.
- West, Lindy; Savage, Dan; Frizzelle, Christopher; Clement, Bethany Jean (2012). How to Be a Person: The Stranger's Guide to College, Sex, Intoxicants, Tacos and Life Itself. Seattle, Washington: Sasquatch Books. p. 250. ISBN 9781570617782. LCCN 2012011132.[15]
- West, Lindy (October 20, 2020). Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema. New York City: Hachette Books. p. 242. ISBN 978-0316449823. LCCN 2020942010.
References
- ^ a b c "The Opinion Pages; Lindy West Feminism and popular culture.", The New York Times, 2017
- ^ a b c d e "Author Archive: Lindy West." The Stranger. Accessed on January 21, 2012.
- ^ a b Brodeur, Nicole (July 7, 2013), "Lindy West: Finding 'Invisible Hypocrisies'", The Seattle Times
- ^ , The Stranger, archived from the original on November 1, 2011
- ^ "Lindy West Announces Move to LA, Seattle Cries." Seattlest. August 30, 2011. Accessed on January 21, 2012.
- ^ West, Lindy. "So Long, Suckers!!! I Never Liked You!" The Stranger. September 13, 2011. Accessed on January 21, 2012.
- ^ Waldman, Katy (August 3, 2012). "Stop Calling Yourself A Feminist". Slate. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
- ^ "Whoa, The Reaction To That Column Was Crazy" RedEye Chicago. Accessed on August 20, 2012.
- ^ Davis, Brangien (January 2014), "Seattle's Lindy West Brings Women's Issues to Light Online; Writer, performer and activist Lindy West keeps her wit about her", Seattle Magazine
- ^ . The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ^ "Contributors: Lindy West". GQ. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
- ^ West, Lindy. "Anatomy of a racist: Our awkward relationship with Mel Gibson." NY Daily News. July 19, 2010. Accessed on January 21, 2012.
- ^ West, Lindy (February 2, 2012). "Glee Recap: Takin' It to the Streets". Vulture.com.
- ^ West, Lindy (June 11, 2011). "How To Be a Person: A Guide to Life for the Recent Graduate". Cracked.com.
- ^ a b . Lindy West. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
- ^ "Lindy West [author profile]", The Guardian, retrieved January 21, 2012
- ^ Tortorici, Dayna (June 13, 2016). "'Sex Object: A Memoir' and 'Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
- ^ a b Lindy West Wins Women's Media Center Social Media Award, Women's Media Center, October 8, 2013
- ^ Lindy West Receives the WMC's Social Media Award from Jane Fonda (video).
- ^ Pearson, Michael (September 29, 2015). "Women embrace, criticize #ShoutYourAbortion". CNN. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
- ^ Buchanan, Rose (September 22, 2015). "Tens of thousands of women share their abortion experiences in global attempt to end stigma". The Independent. Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
- ^ Wilmer, Henry (September 22, 2015). "The women 'shouting' their abortions". BBC. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
- ^ Bowden, George (September 22, 2015). "Planned Parenthood' #ShoutYourAbortion Sees Women Take To Social Media To Help Save Funding". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
- ^ Kahn, Matie (September 25, 2015). "The Dark Side of Hashtag Activism". Elle. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
- ^ Roy, Aditi (October 23, 2015). "How the #ShoutYourAbortion Hashtag Started and Sparked a New Movement". ABC News. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
- ^ "The 2016 Stranger Genius Awards", The Stranger, Seattle, p. 17, September 14, 2016
- ^ Frizzelle, Christopher (September 14, 2016), "Lindy West Winner of a Stranger Genius Award in Literature", The Stranger
- ^ Bryant, Aidy. "Aidy Bryant On 'Shrill,' 'SNL' Thrills, And Not Feeling Bad About Her Body". NPR.org. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
- ^ "Shit, Actually". Hachette Book Group. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
- ^ de Barros, Paul (December 14, 2011). "Entertaining musician, ad man Paul West dies". The Seattle Times.
- ^ , The Seattle Times, December 15, 2011, archived from the original on January 11, 2014
- ^ Hamil, Brett (December 2, 2014). . CityArts. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ West, Lindy (July 21, 2015). "My wedding was perfect – and I was fat as hell the whole time". The Guardian.
- ^ Oluo, Ahamefule J. (July 6, 2011), "My Father Is an African Immigrant and My Mother Is a White Girl from Kansas and I Am Not the President of the United States; Or, How to Disappoint Your Absent Father in 20 Words or Less", The Stranger
- ^ West, Lindy (July 3, 2017), "Roxane Gay: 'If I was conventionally hot and had a slammin' body, I would be president'", The Guardian
- ^ Jerkins, Morgan (November 5, 2019). "Here Comes Lindy West, and She's Holding a Broom". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
Further reading
- Bell, W. Kamau (May 31, 2013), "Extended Talk with Jim Norton and Lindy West" (YouTube), Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell
- Brodeur, Nicole (October 29, 2013), "A Lot More Than Glitter at 'Golden Grrls' Gala", The Seattle Times
- Burbank, Luke (June 6, 2013), , Too Beautiful to Live, archived from the original on November 2, 2014
- Carman, Tim (May 19, 2012), "For some, culinary shtick is hard to swallow", The Washington Post blog
- Chivers, Tom (May 30, 2012), , The Daily Telegraph blog, archived from the original on May 31, 2012
- Deahl, Rachel (March 13, 2015), "Book Deals: Week of March 16, 2015; West Gets 'Shrill' at Hachette", Publishers Weekly
- Gordon-Moershel, Ellie (July–August 2013), "Challenging Sex Segregation in Sport", Canadian Dimension, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 29–31, 4
- Hesse, Monica (July 15, 2012), "The Internet Can't Reprogram Brains", The Washington Post
- Hockenberry, John (August 12, 2014), "'I Believe You, It's Not Your Fault': New Site Gives Outlet for Sexual Assault Victims", The Takeaway
- "How parents can help obese kids", Starnewsonline.com, Wilmington, NC, October 12, 2012
- Kerwicke, Mike (April 7, 2011), "Watermelon Abuse As A Career Choice", The Record, Bergen County, NJ
- Kumaraswami, Lakshmi (May 7, 2012), "My Fair Vagina: An intimate wash advertisement extends the frontiers of fairness to erogenous zones. Has it gone too far?", India Today
- Kumaraswami, Lakshmi (May 28, 2012), "Net Flux: This week's app round-up is for children, football fans and early risers.", India Today
- Lawless, Jill (August 1, 2013), Twitter threats highlight blight of online trolls, Associated Press
- Lytton, Charlotte (June 10, 2013), "Sadly it helps to be 'hot' if you're a feminist", The Daily Telegraph
- Petri, Alexandra (April 29, 2013), "Gwyneth Paltrow is your college essay", The Washington Post
- "Roseanne Barr's Twitter Rape-Joke Rant Gets Her Blocked By Jezebel's Lindy West For 'Unhinged Abuse'", International Business Times, June 5, 2013
- Simmons-Duffin, Selena (September 27, 2012), "New Anti-Obesity Ads Blaming Overweight Parents Spark Criticism", NPR Morning Edition
- Stuever, Hank (March 4, 2012), "'G.C.B.' – and let's just add a Big D, for dumb", The Washington Post, p. EZ.3
- Stuever (September 2012), "The Conversation", The Atlantic, pp. 16, 19–22, 26
- Taranto, James (October 18, 2013), "Does Obama Know? Does Obama Care? America needs an accounting of the health-care debacle", Wall Street Journal
- Tiku, Nitasha; Newton, Casey (February 4, 2015), "Twitter CEO: 'We suck at dealing with abuse'; Dick Costolo says trolls are costing Twitter users", The Verge, Vox Media, retrieved February 4, 2015