Amanda Marcotte

Amanda Marcotte

Amanda Marcotte in May 2013
Born Amanda Marie Marcotte
(1977-09-02) September 2, 1977
El Paso, Texas
Occupation Blogger
Citizenship American
Alma mater St. Edward's University
Subject Feminism, politics
Partner Marc Faletti[1]

Amanda Marie Marcotte (born September 2, 1977) is an American blogger who writes on feminism and politics.

Early life

Born in El Paso, Texas, Marcotte was raised in the small town of Alpine in the west of the state. She graduated summa cum laude from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas with a degree in English literature.[2] Around 2004, she began writing for the liberal blog Pandagon.net, then later for Slate and The Guardian.[3]

In 2004 she won a Koufax Award for her "Mouse Words" blog.[4]

Writing and activism in 2007

Time magazine described her in early February 2007 as "an outspoken voice of the left," and said "there is a welcome wonkishness to Marcotte, who, unlike some star bloggers, is not afraid to parse policy with her readers." Time also described Marcotte's blogging as "provocative and profanity-laced."[5]

On January 30, 2007, the John Edwards 2008 presidential campaign hired Marcotte to act as the campaign's blogmaster.[6] When she was soon criticized for her previous work,[7][8][9][10] the campaign responded that, while Edwards was "personally offended" by some of Marcotte's remarks, her job as their blogmaster was secure.[11]

In January 2007, Marcotte wrote controversial statements about the Duke lacrosse case.[12][13][14] A few months before all charges were dropped in the case, on a blog post titled "Stuck at the airport again....." Marcotte wrote in part, "Can’t a few white boys sexually assault a black woman anymore without people getting all wound up about it? So unfair." The post attracted criticism, mentioned in The New York Times.[15] Marcotte later deleted the post.[16]

On February 12, 2007, the Catholic League called Marcotte's review of the film Children of Men "anti-Christian".[17] Later the same day, Marcotte announced that she had resigned from the Edwards campaign, accusing Bill Donohue of a sexist perspective in the calls for her resignation. She returned to her work on other blogs.[18] In an article for Salon a few days later, she said the reaction to her comments on the Duke lacrosse case was the first in a series of "shitstorms" that had prompted her to resign from the campaign.[19]

Activities since 2008

Marcotte's writing around 2013 included articles on the treatment of women in the secular and skepticism movements,[20] issues surrounding reproductive health,[21] and the efforts to limit access to reproductive health services in the United States.[22] She has written opinion pieces on ways to promote healthy sexual behavior.[23]

In 2014, Marcotte criticized journalists who investigated and helped debunk gang rape allegations from Rolling Stone's "A Rape on Campus" story, which was later discredited and retracted. She wrote of those who questioned the details, "it’s really time for people to understand that rape denialism is like Holocaust denialism: a broad refusal to face reality".[24] She later argued on the Huffington Post Live that discrepancies were due to trauma-related memory loss and that Jackie may have been raped at a different fraternity.[25] When Rolling Stone apologized for errors in its reporting, Marcotte tweeted "interesting that rape apologists think that if they can ‘discredit’ one rape story, that means no other rape stories can be true, either". Lizzie Crocker from the Daily Beast cited Marcotte's statement as an example of shifting "focus to how “rape apologists” will greet the news of Rolling Stone’s admission of their report’s shortcomings, while still believing Jackie’s story"[26]

Marcotte currently blogs at The Raw Story,[27] contributes to Slate,[28] The Guardian,[29] Salon,[30] and does a weekly podcast called RH Reality Cast.[31]

Marcotte has given presentations at Skepticon, SXSWIII, Women In Secularism 2,[32] and SkepchickCON.[33] She is on the speakers bureau of the Secular Student Alliance.[34]

Marcotte is the author of It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments (2008) and Get Opinionated (2010).

Robert Kurzban has criticized Marcotte's commentary on evolutionary psychology as stemming from ignorance "in the service of her political agenda".[35] Charlotte Allen has referred to Marcotte as "perpetually outraged".[36]

References

  1. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (2010). Get Opinionated – A Progressive's Guide to Finding Your Voice (and Taking a Little Action). Seal Press. ISBN 1580053491. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
  2. ↑ "Book details: Get opinionated: a progressive's guide to finding your voice (and taking a little action)". sealpress.com. Seal Press.
  3. ↑ "Amanda Marcotte at Slate".
  4. ↑ Drum, Kevin (23 February 2005). "Koufax Awards". The Washington Monthly. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Calabresi, Massimo (2007-02-07). "Bloggers on the Bus". Time.
  6. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (2007-01-30). "Pandagon changes". Pandagon. Archived from the original on 2007-02-17. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  7. ↑ Alex Koppelman; Rebecca Traister (February 7, 2007). "Edwards campaign fires bloggers". Salon.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011. The right-wing blogosphere has gotten its scalps ... [Marcotte and McEwan] had come under fire from right-wing bloggers for statements they had previously made on their respective blogs.
    • Beyerstein, Lindsay (February 26, 2007). "Why I refused to blog for Edwards". Salon.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Bill Donohue of the Catholic League and the right-wing blogosphere aligned for an all-out assault on Amanda. If it had just been the right-wing bloggers gunning for Amanda, the problem would have been short-lived. ... What Bob didn't seem to realize is that the right-wing blogosphere was going to try to get Edwards' bloggers fired no matter what.
    • Parker, Jennifer (February 8, 2007). "Edwards Reprimands Campaign Bloggers". ABC News. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Salon reported that the women had come under intense scrutiny from right-wing bloggers for statements they had previously made on their respective blogs.
    • Tapper, Jake (February 13, 2007). "Edwards' Campaign Blogger Quits Amid Controversy". ABC News. Retrieved 31 August 2011. On the Internet, outrage erupted. ... But that did not quell the Internet storm as Marcotte continued to write in her no-holds-barred style.
  8. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (February 16, 2007). "Why I had to quit the John Edwards campaign". Salon.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Terry, Moran (February 6, 2007). "Does John Edwards Condone Hate Speech?". ABC News. Retrieved 31 August 2011. A bit of a tempest is brewing over the strident and profanity-laced writings of John Edwards’ official campaign "blogmaster," Amanda Marcotte.
  9. ↑ "Unholy Hire", Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review, February 6, 2007.
  10. ↑ Catholics slam bloggers hired by Edwards. MSNBC.com (AP February 7, 2007)
  11. ↑ Edwards, John (2007-02-08). "Statement on Campaign Bloggers". John Edwards Campaign Blog. Archived from the original on 20 February 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  12. ↑ Last Call for "Rape-Crisis" Feminism? - Reason Magazine
  13. ↑ Kurtz, Howard. "The Press, Turning Up Its Nose at Lame Duck". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-22.
  14. ↑ RealClearPolitics - A Feminist Flare Up
  15. ↑ Broder, John M. "Edwards’s Bloggers Cross the Line, Critic Says". Retrieved 11 March 2016.
  16. ↑ Stuck at the airport again….. at Pandagon
  17. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (2007-02-11). "Review of Children of Men". Pandagon. Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
  18. ↑ Baker, Mike (February 12, 2007). "Targeted Blogger Quits Edwards Campaign". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 14 April 2007. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
  19. ↑ Why I had to quit the John Edwards campaign - John Edwards - Salon.com
  20. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (7 August 2013). "Skepticism and Secularism Have a Serious Sexual Harassment Problem". Slate. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  21. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (5 August 2013). "The Pill, the Rhythm Method, and Why "Nature" Isn’t An Argument". The Raw Story. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  22. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (9 August 2013). "Virginia Crisis Pregnancy Centers Caught Lying About Abortion and Contraception". Slate. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  23. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (14 August 2013). "Teens and sex in Dad's house: Column". USA Today. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  24. ↑ Moynihan, Michael (5 December 2015). "Why It Was Right to Question Rolling Stone’s U-VA Rape Story". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  25. ↑ "Rolling Stone's Controversial UVA Rape Story". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  26. ↑ Crocker, Lizzie (5 December 2014). "What the U-VA Rape Case Tells Us About a Victim Culture Gone Mad". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  27. ↑ "Pandagon". Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  28. ↑ "Amanda Marcotte". Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  29. ↑ "Profile: Amanda Marcotte". The Guardian (London). 1 July 2009. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  30. ↑ "Amanda Marcotte". Retrieved 9 Nov 2015.
  31. ↑ "RH Reality Check". Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  32. ↑ "Amanda Marcotte Profile". Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  33. ↑ "SkepchickCON at CONvergence". Skepchick.org. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  34. ↑ "Amanda Marcotte". Secular Student Alliance. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
  35. ↑ Kurzban R (October 25, 2011) Amanda Marcotte’s Ugly Prejudices, Evolutionary Psychology.
  36. ↑ Charlotte Allen, How to defeat haters on the Internet, Los Angeles Times op-ed September 15, 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, March 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.