Wendy Kaminer
Wendy Kaminer (born December 28, 1949) is an American 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: 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 J.D. degree from Boston University Law School and practiced law as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society and in the office of the Mayor of New York City.[1]
Activism
ACLU
Kaminer was a member of the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts from the early 1990s until June 2009. She was a national board member of the American Civil Liberties Union from 1999 until her term expired in June 2006. In 2003, during her tenure on the national board, she became a strong critic of the ACLU leadership and was centrally involved in a series of controversies, including the attempted ouster of the executive director, that culminated in a highly publicized effort to prohibit board members from criticizing the ACLU.[2][3] In 2009 she published a book on her experience and views, called Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity and the ACLU. As of 2018, Kaminer still comments on the ACLU and what she believes is the appropriate relationship between protecting civil liberties and civil rights. "No one else is doing this work with the kind of national impact, and the kind of skilled lawyering."[4]
Writings
Kaminer, a former Guggenheim fellow, has published seven books in addition to Worst Instincts, including her landmark[citation needed] 1992 critique of self-help and the recovery movement, I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: The Recovery Movement and Other Self-Help Fashions. She has also written extensively about irrationalism, spiritualism, and the intersection of religion and politics in America, the subject of her 1999 book, Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety. Her feminist writings include her 1990 book, A Fearful Freedom: Women's Flight from Equality, reviewing the historic conflict between equality and protectionism for women and exploring the legal and social pitfalls of protectionism. A former legal aid attorney, she is a staunch critic of the death penalty and the criminal justice system, the subject of It's all the Rage: Crime and Culture. She is also the author of Free for All: Defending Liberty in America Today; True Love Waits: Essays and Criticism; and Women Volunteering: the Pleasure, Pain, & Politics of Unpaid Work from 1830 to the Present (1984).[5]
Personal life
On November 17, 2001 Kaminer married longtime companion Woody Kaplan.[6] Kaplan, a former real estate developer, founded the Civil Liberties List (a political action committee) and was a full-time political and civil liberties activist. Kaplan was president of the Defending Dissent Foundation and chaired the advisory board of the Secular Coalition for America.[7] Kaplan passed away on August 3rd, 2023 [8] Kaminer is herself a member of the Secular Coalition advisory board.[9]
References
- ↑ American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina[permanent dead link]
- ↑ How the ACLU Lost its Bearings
- ↑ Sherman, Scott (January 18, 2007). "ACLU v. ACLU". The Nation. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014.
- ↑ "Opinion | The ACLU's divided heart". The Washington Post. June 26, 2018. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
- ↑ Bio: The Huffington Post
- ↑ "Secular Wedding Vows: Kaminer/Kaplan Wedding". Archived from the original on February 20, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
- ↑ "Secular Coalition for America". Archived from the original on March 24, 2008. Retrieved February 21, 2008.
- ↑ Bryan Marquard Globe (August 27, 2023). "Woody Kaplan, an activist 'unafraid to stand up for the unpopular,' dies at 80". The Boston Globe. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ↑ "Secular Coalition for America Advisory Board Biography". Archived from the original on March 7, 2017. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
External links
- Wendy Kaminer, blog at The Huffington Post
- Wendy Kaminer at The Atlantic
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- People appearing on C-SPAN
- 1949 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American women lawyers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American women writers
- 21st-century American women lawyers
- 21st-century American lawyers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American women writers
- American Civil Liberties Union people
- American civil rights lawyers
- American feminist writers
- American political writers
- American women essayists
- American women non-fiction writers
- The Atlantic (magazine) people
- Boston University School of Law alumni
- Feminist studies scholars
- American free speech activists
- Jewish American non-fiction writers
- Jewish feminists
- Jewish women writers
- American secular Jews
- Smith College alumni
- 21st-century American Jews