Wendy Kaminer
{{Refimprove|date=February 2008}}
Wendy Kaminer (born
1950) is a
lawyer and
writer. She has written several books on contemporary social issues, including
A Fearful Freedom: Women's Flight From Equality, about the conflict between egalitarian and protectionist feminism;
(I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional|I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help Fashions), about the
self-help movement; and
Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials : The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety.
Early life
Kaminer graduated from
Smith College in 1971. She earned her law degree from
Boston University Law School and practiced law as a staff attorney in the
New York Legal Aid Society and the office of the
Mayor of New York City.
(1)Activism
Anti-pornography movement and anti-censorship movements
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Kaminer was a member of
Women Against Pornography and wrote several articles on possible legal approaches to combating pornography, including a chapter to the influential anti-pornography anthology,
Take Back the Night. By the middle of the 1980s, though still a member of WAP, she had come to feel that the legislative approach to fighting pornography, as exemplified by the work of
Catharine MacKinnon, was a mistake. By 1990 she had come to view the "protectionist"
feminism of MacKinnon and WAP, as well as the "difference" feminism of
Carol Gilligan as mistaken approaches to the question of
women's rights. Kaminer's 1990 book
A Fearful Freedom criticised these approaches.In 1992, in response to the proposed
Pornography Victims Compensation Act before the
United States Senate, she helped to found
Feminists for Free Expression, along with
Nadine Strossen and
Marcia Pally.
ACLU
Kaminer was a member of the board of the
American Civil Liberties Union from 1999 until her term expired in June 2006 and she chose not to run for re-election. She has written a number of articles criticizing the ACLU's recent proposal (which was discussed but never adopted) that would limit public criticism of the organization's staff by its board members, and has actively opposed certain actions of ACLU Executive Director
Anthony Romero and President Nadine Strossen.
(2)Secularist organizations
Kaminer is an advisory board member of the
Secular Student Alliance as well as the
Secular Coalition for America.
Writings
Kaminer has written extensively about the intersection of religion and politics in America. Her latest book is
Free for All: Defending Liberty in America Today. A former
Guggenheim Fellow, she is the author of six previous books:
Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials,
I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional,
A Fearful Freedom;
True Love Waits: Essays and Criticism;
It’s All the Rage: Crime and Culture; and
Women Volunteering: the Pleasure, Pain, & Politics of Unpaid Work.
(3) Kaminer has been an ardent critic of "institutionalized whining" and protectionist forms of feminism. She's also criticized the self-help movement and the criminal justice system, including the
death penalty.
Personal life
On November 17, 2001 Kaminer married longtime companion
Woody Kaplan.
(4) Kaplan, a former real estate developer, founded the
Civil Liberties List (a political action committee) and is a full-time political and civil liberties activist. Kaplan is president of the
First Amendment Foundation and an active advisory board member of the
Secular Coalition for America.
(5) References
-
[American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina]
-
[How the ACLU Lost its Bearings]
-
[The Huffington Post]
-
[Secular Wedding Vows: Kaminer/Kaplan Wedding]
-
[Secular Coalition for America]
External links
(...as imported from WP)
article has not been saved locally
