Clementine Ford (writer)

Clementine Ford is an Australian feminist writer, broadcaster and public speaker.[1][2][3][4] She wrote a regular column for Daily Life[5] for seven years.[6]

This article is about the feminist writer. For the actress, see Clementine Ford.

Clementine Ford
Ford at a book signing in Christchurch, New Zealand, September 2017
Ford at a book signing in Christchurch, New Zealand, September 2017
OccupationWriter, feminist
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Adelaide
Children1
Website
Clementine Ford on Twitter

Personal life

Ford spent much of her childhood growing up in the Middle East, specifically in Oman on the eastern border of the United Arab Emirates.[7] At the age of twelve, her family relocated to England.[7][8] Ford spent the remainder of her teenage years growing up in Adelaide, South Australia. As a teenager, she struggled with body image, body dysmorphia and an eating disorder.[9]

Ford studied at the University of Adelaide, where she took a gender studies course; she describes this as a personal catalyst for her decision to become a women's rights activist.[10] During her time at the university she also worked as an editor and contributor for the student newspaper On Dit.[11][12]

Ford moved from Adelaide to Melbourne in 2011.[13] She announced the birth of her son in August 2016.[14][15]

Career

In 2007 Ford began writing a column for Adelaide's Sunday Mail, and she also began writing for the Drum.[1][2] Topics Ford wrote about included distigmatising abortion; she described having an abortion herself as an easy decision that she feels no shame for.[16] In 2014, she wrote of her outrage towards comments made by Cory Bernardi that labelled pro-choice advocates "pro-death" soldiers of the "death industry".[17] Later that year, she wrote an opinion piece against a Victorian bill that would change the state's abortion laws, arguing that if politicians really cared about the lives of women and girls, they would advocate for improved access to birth control, including terminations.[18]

On White Ribbon Day in 2015, Ford made public some of the sexist and abusive messages that she had received online.[19] Meriton Group, the employer of a man who had labelled Ford with a derogatory term, investigated Ford's complaint and the man was dismissed from his job.[20] Three Adelaide High School boys were suspended from their school for lewd comments they wrote about Ford.[21]

In September 2016, Allen & Unwin published Ford's first book, Fight Like a Girl.[3][22] Two years later, her second book, Boys Will Be Boys was published, which focused on toxic masculinity and the patriarchy.[23]

Ford resigned from her role as a columnist with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in January 2019, alleging that she had been "disciplined over a tweet" she made in regard to the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and that she had been told that it was the paper's policy to refrain from "disrespect[ing] the office of the PM".[6]

In February 2020, Ford began a podcast called "Big Sister Hotline" where she talks about current feminist issues and questions with guests such as: Florence Given, Salma El-Werdany, Gemma Carey, Aileen Quinn and Yasmin Abdel-Magied.[24]

Controversy

In March 2016, Ford was banned from Facebook for 30 days for using profanity toward another user who had verbally abused her on her Facebook page. Ford accused Facebook of having a double standard, as the social networking site meanwhile declined to take action against a user who had posted a graphic internet meme making light of domestic violence.[5]

In 2018, a Lifeline event featuring Ford was cancelled following a petition calling for her removal, after she had made a Twitter comment which included the phrase "all men must die".[6] Ford has commented on the issue of her sarcastic tweets being taken seriously by those opposing her. For example, after the man from Meriton Group was dismissed from his employment, another man tweeted that Ford would not be happy until she had all men "fired". Ford responded by saying she would not be happy until all men were "fired ... into the sun". According to Ford, despite the clear jest, many men publicly accused her tweet of advocating for their mass murder.[25]

In May 2020, Ford was criticised for her tweet stating that the coronavirus was not "killing men fast enough", which has since been deleted.[26][27] A Melbourne City Council arts grant that had been awarded to Ford was afterwards said to be "under review" as a result of Ford's comments. Lord Mayor Sally Capp stated that Ford's statement was "deliberately divisive and incredibly unhelpful when we are trying to keep our community together" during the COVID-19 pandemic.[26][27] Following backlash, Ford responded on Twitter by stating that although she still stood "100% behind my fury at men exploiting women's unpaid labour", she had "reconsidered her flippancy in discussing it", and was "a big enough person to admit when [she'd] misjudged something".[26]

Bibliography

Nonfiction
  • Ford, Clementine (2016). Fight Like a Girl. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781760292362.
  • Ford, Clementine (2018). Boys Will Be Boys. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781760632335.
  • Ford, Clementine (2021). How We Love: Notes on a Life. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781760877187.

Contributed chapter

"There's Nothing Funny About Misogyny", pp. 189–197, in: Destroying the Joint, edited by Jane Caro, Read How You Want (2015, ISBN 9781459687295).

Introduction

Stopes, Marie. Married Love: A New Contribution to the Solution of Sex Difficulties: A Book for Married Couples, Brunswick: Scribe Publications (2013, ISBN 9781922070234)

References
  1. "The year that made me: Clementine Ford, 2007". Radio National. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 15 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  2. Delaney, Brigid (28 September 2016). "Clementine Ford: 'There's something really toxic with the way men bond in Australia'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  3. Baird, Julia; Ford, Clementine (27 September 2016). "Clem Ford: Why you should fight like a girl". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 December 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  4. "Clementine Ford". ABC News. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  5. "This woman is highlighting Facebook's ridiculous double standards". Independent.co.uk. 29 March 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  6. "Clementine Ford quits Nine newspaper column, saying she was almost fired over tweet about Prime Minister", (31 January 2019), ABC. Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  7. Ford, Clementine (2016). Fight Like a Girl. Melbourne: Allen & Unwin. p. 26.
  8. "Ford - Q + A". ABC. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021.
  9. Ford, Clementine (20 December 2011), "'The lifetime struggle to accept my body'", Mamamia, archived from the original on 25 December 2016, retrieved 17 January 2017
  10. Handley, Erin; Ford, Clementine (11 October 2012), "Interview with Clementine Ford", Right Now, archived from the original on 16 January 2017, retrieved 16 January 2017
  11. Capper, Sarah; Ford, Clementine (20 March 2014), "A Bonza Clementine", Sheilas, Victorian Women's Trust, archived from the original on 8 March 2017, retrieved 19 December 2016
  12. Richardson, Tom (22 January 2015), "On Dit's Young Libs begin anti-leftist crusade", In Daily, archived from the original on 16 January 2017, retrieved 16 January 2017
  13. Ross, Annabel (21 May 2012). "My Melbourne: Clementine Ford". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  14. Curtis, Rachel (30 August 2016). "Clementine Ford announces surprise three-week-old baby". Mamamia. Archived from the original on 31 August 2016. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  15. Elliot, Ellen-Maree (6 October 2016). "It continues to divide, but the issue of breastfeeding in public is a no-brainer for author Clementine Ford". The Courier Mail. News Corp. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  16. Ford, Clementine (15 October 2009). "Clementine Ford reveals her two no guilt, no shame abortions". News.com.au. News Corp. Archived from the original on 29 January 2017. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  17. Ford, Clementine (7 January 2014). "'Pro-choice' doesn't equal 'pro-death'". Daily Life. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 8 April 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  18. Ford, Clementine (9 May 2014). "Hands off our hard-fought abortion rights". The Drum. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 10 May 2014.
  19. Caggiano, Anthony (25 June 2015). "Man shamed for trolling Clementine Ford apologises for online attack". Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  20. Levy, Megan (1 December 2015). "Hotel worker Michael Nolan sacked over Facebook post to Clementine Ford". Archived from the original on 1 December 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  21. Wright, Jessica (26 June 2015). "'Enough is enough': Clementine Ford to lodge police complaint over trolling". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  22. "Fight Like A Girl - Clementine Ford - 9781760292362 - Allen & Unwin - Australia". www.allenandunwin.com. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  23. Smith, Michelle (26 September 2018). "Clementine Ford reveals the fragility behind 'toxic masculinity' in Boys Will Be Boys". The Conversation. Retrieved 16 February 2019.
  24. "Clementine Ford's Big Sister Hotline". Great Australian Pods – Podcast Directory. 10 March 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  25. Ford, Clementine (2016). Fight Like a Girl. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781760292362.
  26. Hore, Monique (24 May 2020). "Council grant under review following Clementine Ford's 'offensive' tweet". Herald Sun. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  27. "Clementine Ford apologises after tweeting 'coronavirus isn't killing men fast enough'". News.com.au. 25 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
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