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Lindy West
Lindy West wears a black jacket and white t-shirt printed with the words "Lord, give me the confidence of a mediocre white man."
West in 2016
Born (1982-03-09) March 9, 1982 (age 42)
Seattle, Washington, United States
EducationOccidental College
Occupation(s)Writer, comedian, activist
Notable workShrill: Notes from a Loud Woman
SpouseAhamefule J. Oluo (m. 2015)
Websitelindywest.net

Lindy West (born March 9, 1982) is an American writer, comedian, and activist. She is the author of the essay collections Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman and The Witches Are Coming and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. Topics she writes about include feminism, popular culture, and the fat acceptance movement.[1][2][3][4]

Career

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West at BookCon in 2019

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]

Also in 2013, Kurt Metzger feuded with West and Jude Doyle via Facebook and Twitter during a defense of rape humor.[20][21][22][23]

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.[24][25][26][27][28][29]

In 2016, West won The Stranger's Genius Award in Literature for her book Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman.[30][31]

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 wrote 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 was an executive producer and writer for the show, which ran for three seasons. l[32]

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.[33]

Personal life

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Originally from Seattle, Washington, West is the daughter of Ingrid, who is a nurse, and Paul West, who was a musician.[34] She attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, California.[2][35] In 2024, Occidental awarded West an honorary doctorate.[36]

On July 11, 2015, West married musician and writer Ahamefule J. Oluo, younger brother of Seattle writer Ijeoma Oluo.[37][38][39][40]

In 2022, West and Oluo revealed that they are polyamorous.[41]

Bibliography

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  • West, Lindy (November 5, 2019). The Witches Are Coming. Hachette Books (published 2019). p. 272. ISBN 978-0316449885.[42]
  • 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

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  1. ^ a b c "The Opinion Pages; Lindy West Feminism and popular culture.", The New York Times, 2017
  2. ^ a b c d e "Author Archive: Lindy West." The Stranger. Accessed on January 21, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Brodeur, Nicole (July 7, 2013), "Lindy West: Finding 'Invisible Hypocrisies'", The Seattle Times
  4. ^ "Masthead", The Stranger, archived from the original on November 1, 2011
  5. ^ "Lindy West Announces Move to LA, Seattle Cries." Seattlest. August 30, 2011. Accessed on January 21, 2012.
  6. ^ West, Lindy. "So Long, Suckers!!! I Never Liked You!" The Stranger. September 13, 2011. Accessed on January 21, 2012.
  7. ^ Waldman, Katy (August 3, 2012). "Stop Calling Yourself A Feminist". Slate. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  8. ^ "Whoa, The Reaction To That Column Was Crazy" RedEye Chicago. Accessed on August 20, 2012.
  9. ^ 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
  10. ^ "Lindy West". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on June 14, 2010. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  11. ^ "Contributors: Lindy West". GQ. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  12. ^ West, Lindy. "Anatomy of a racist: Our awkward relationship with Mel Gibson." NY Daily News. July 19, 2010. Accessed on January 21, 2012.
  13. ^ West, Lindy (February 2, 2012). "Glee Recap: Takin' It to the Streets". Vulture.com.
  14. ^ West, Lindy (June 11, 2011). "How To Be a Person: A Guide to Life for the Recent Graduate". Cracked.com.
  15. ^ a b "I Jumped the Shark on My Pony. It Is My Pony's Only Trick". Lindy West. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  16. ^ "Lindy West [author profile]", The Guardian, retrieved January 21, 2012
  17. ^ 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.
  18. ^ a b Lindy West Wins Women's Media Center Social Media Award, Women's Media Center, October 8, 2013
  19. ^ Lindy West Receives the WMC's Social Media Award from Jane Fonda (video).
  20. ^ Jung, E. Alex; Brill, Karen (August 17, 2016). "'Amy Schumer 'Couldn't Be More Against' Writer Kurt Metzger's Comments on Rape". Vulture. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  21. ^ Bonazzo, John (August 17, 2016). "'Amy Schumer's Writer Harasses Women Online—But She Blocks Fans Who Bring It Up'". Observer. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  22. ^ Watson, Rebecca (November 9, 2011). "'Kurt Metzger Totally PWNED Me!". Skepchick. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  23. ^ Romano, Aja (July 2, 2013). "'The disturbing online trail of Comedy Central writer Kurt Metzger". The Daily Dot. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  24. ^ Pearson, Michael (September 29, 2015). "Women embrace, criticize #ShoutYourAbortion". CNN. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ Wilmer, Henry (September 22, 2015). "The women 'shouting' their abortions". BBC. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
  27. ^ Bowden, George (September 22, 2015). "Planned Parenthood' #ShoutYourAbortion Sees Women Take To Social Media To Help Save Funding". Huffington Post. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
  28. ^ Kahn, Matie (September 25, 2015). "The Dark Side of Hashtag Activism". Elle. Retrieved October 24, 2015.
  29. ^ Roy, Aditi (October 23, 2015). "How the #ShoutYourAbortion Hashtag Started and Sparked a New Movement". ABC News. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  30. ^ "The 2016 Stranger Genius Awards", The Stranger, Seattle, p. 17, September 14, 2016
  31. ^ Frizzelle, Christopher (September 14, 2016), "Lindy West Winner of a Stranger Genius Award in Literature", The Stranger
  32. ^ Bryant, Aidy. "Aidy Bryant On 'Shrill,' 'SNL' Thrills, And Not Feeling Bad About Her Body". NPR.org. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
  33. ^ Shit, Actually. Hachette Book Group. February 4, 2020. ISBN 9780316449847. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  34. ^ de Barros, Paul (December 14, 2011). "Entertaining musician, ad man Paul West dies". The Seattle Times.
  35. ^ "Entertaining Paul West always had 'droll story'; Obituary. (Obituary)", The Seattle Times, December 15, 2011, archived from the original on January 11, 2014
  36. ^ "Honorary Degree Recipients". www.oxy.edu. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  37. ^ Hamil, Brett (December 2, 2014). "Q&A with Ahamefule J. Oluo". CityArts. Archived from the original on December 31, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  38. ^ West, Lindy (July 21, 2015). "My wedding was perfect – and I was fat as hell the whole time". The Guardian.
  39. ^ 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
  40. ^ West, Lindy (July 3, 2017), "Roxane Gay: 'If I was conventionally hot and had a slammin' body, I would be president'", The Guardian
  41. ^ Polyamory Is Not Too Good To Be True: Lindy, Roya, & Aham On The Best Relationship Of Their Lives, January 27, 2022, retrieved October 25, 2023
  42. ^ 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

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