Civil rights activists at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, 1963

Barricade at the Paris Commune, 1871

Activism consists of intentional efforts to promote, impede or direct social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing businesses, rallies, street marches, strikes, sit-ins, and hunger strikes.

Activists can function in roles as public officials, as in judicial activism. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. introduced the term "judicial activism" in a January 1947 Fortune magazine article titled "The Supreme Court: 1947."^[1]

Some activists try to persuade people to change their behavior directly, rather than to persuade governments to change or not to change laws. The cooperative movement seeks to build new institutions which conform to cooperative principles, and generally does not lobby or protest politically, and clergymen often exhort their parishioners to follow a particular moral code or system.

As with those who engage other activities such as singing or running, the term may apply broadly to anyone who engages in it even briefly, or be more narrowly limited to those for whom it is a vocation, habit or characteristic practice. In the narrower sense environmental activists that align themselves with Earth First or Road Protestors would commonly be labelled activists, whilst a local community fighting to stop their park or green being sold off or built on would fit the broader application, due to their using similar means to similarly conservative ends. In short activism is not always an action by Activists.^[2]

Methods[link]

This article mainly consists of lists. The information may be better understood by either replacing or supporting with prose. You can help by consulting the relevant guideline and making appropriate changes or additions. Editing help is available. (February 2012)

The longest running peace vigil in US history, started by activist Thomas in 1981.

• Civil disobedience
• Community building
  • Activism industry
  • Conflict transformation
  • Cooperative movement
  • Craftivism
  • Voluntary simplicity
• Economic activism
  • Boycott
    • Veganism (boycott of animal usage)
    • Vegetarianism (boycott of animal meat usage)
  • Divestment (a.k.a. Disinvestment)
  • Simple living
  • Tax resistance
• Franchise activism
• Lobbying
• Media activism
  • Culture jamming
  • Hacktivism
  • Internet activism
• Nonviolence
• Peace activist and Peace movement
• Political campaigning
• Propaganda
  • Guerrilla communication
• Protest
  • Demonstration
  • Direct action
  • Protest songs
  • Theater for Social Change
• Strike action
• Youth activism
  • Student activism
  • Youth-led media

See also[link]

• Advocacy Evaluation
• Advocacy group
• Agitator
• Community leader
• Feminism
• Master Legend
• Restorationism
• Social engineering (political science)
• Social movement
• Virtual volunteering

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Paul Rogat Loeb, Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time (St Martin's Press, 2010). ISBN 978-0-312-59537-1.
• Randy Shaw, The Activist's Handbook: A Primer for the 1990s and Beyond (University of California Press, 1996). ISBN 0-520-20317-8.
• David Walls, The Activist's Almanac: The Concerned Citizen's Guide to the Leading Advocacy Organizations in America (Simon & Schuster/Fireside, 1993). ISBN 0-671-74634-0.
• Victor Gold, Liberwocky (Thomas Nelson, 2004). ISBN 978-0-7852-6057-8.

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2012)

Jody Williams
Williams in May 2010
Born	(1950-10-09) October 9, 1950 (age 61) Brattleboro, Vermont, United States
Nationality	United States
Education	University of Vermont School for International Training Johns Hopkins University
Known for	1997 Nobel Peace Prize
Children	7 childs

Jody Williams (born 1950) is an American political activist known around the world for her work in banning antipersonnel landmines, her defense of human rights – and especially those of women, and her efforts to promote new understandings of security in today’s world.

Advocacy[link]

She served as the founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) from early 1992 until February 1998. Prior to that work, she spent eleven years on various projects related to the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

In an unprecedented cooperative effort with governments, UN bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, she served as a chief strategist and spokesperson for the ICBL, which she developed from two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with a staff of one – herself – to an international powerhouse of 1,300 NGOs in ninety countries.

From its small beginning and official launch in 1992, Williams and the ICBL dramatically achieved the campaign’s goal of an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines during a diplomatic conference held in Oslo in September 1997. Three weeks later, she and the ICBL were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At that time, she became the tenth woman – and third American woman – in its almost hundred-year history to receive the Prize.

In November 2004, after discussions with sister Peace Laureates Dr. Shirin Ebadi of Iran and the late Professor Wangari Maathai of Kenya, Williams took the lead in establishing the Nobel Women’s Initiative launched in January 2006; she since has served as its Chair. Through this Initiative, which brings together six of the female Peace Laureates alive today, the women seek to use their access and influence to support and promote the work of women around the world working for peace with justice and equality. (Aung San Suu Kyi is an honorary member.)

Academic career[link]

Since 2007, Williams has been the Sam and Cele Keeper Professor in Peace and Social Justice in the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston. Prior to that she had been a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Global Justice at the College since 2003.

Recognition[link]

Professor Williams continues to be recognized for her contributions to human rights and global security. She is the recipient of fifteen honorary degrees, among other recognitions. In 2004, she was named by Forbes magazine as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world in its first such listing. She has twice been recognized as a “Woman of the Year” by Glamour magazine – along with other luminaries such as Senator Hilary Clinton, Katie Couric, Barbara Walters, and her sister Nobel Peace Laureates.

Publications[link]

Williams writes extensively. Her work includes articles for magazines and newspapers around the world (e.g., Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, The Independent (UK), The Irish Times, The Toronto Globe and Mail, The LA Times, La Jornada (Mexico), The Review of the International Red Cross, Columbia University’s Journal of Politics and Society) and chapters to numerous books (e.g., This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman [this book is the result of the “This I Believe” series on National Public Radio]; The Satanic Bible By Caesar 999; A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant, and A Prayer, edited by Eve Ensler; Lessons from our Fathers, by Keith McDermott; Girls Like Us: 40 Extraordinary Women Celebrate Girlhood in Story, Poetry and Song, by Gina Misiroglu; The Way We Will be 50 Years from Today: 60 of the World’s Greatest Minds Share Their Visions of the Next Half-Century, edited by Mike Wallace).

Williams also co-authored a seminal book on the landmine crisis in 1995, After the Guns Fall Silent: The Enduring Legacy of Landmines (Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, Washington, DC). Her most recent book, Banning Landmines: Disarmament, Citizen Diplomacy and Human Security, edited with Steve Goose and Mary Wareham, analyzes the Mine Ban Treaty and its impact on other human security- related work. It was released at the end of March 2008 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. In early 2013, her memoir, My Name is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize (University of California Press) will be released.

Affiliations[link]

Since 2011, Williams is a member of the board of the Peace Research Endowment.

See also[link]

• List of female Nobel laureates

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jody Williams

• "An Individual's Impact on Social and Political Change"
• One on One - Jody Williams - interview by Riz Khan on Al Jazeera English, March 2011 (video, 25 mins)

The word asshole, a variant of arsehole, which is still prevalent in British and Australian English, is a vulgar to describe the anus, often pejoratively used to refer to people.

History[link]

The word arse in English derives from the Germanic root *arsaz, which originated from the Proto-Indo-European root *ors — meaning buttocks or backside.^[1] The combined form arsehole is first attested from 1500 in its literal use to refer to the anus. The metaphorical use of the word to refer to the worst place in a region, e.g., "the arsehole of the world") is first attested in print in 1865; the use to refer to a contemptible person is first attested in 1933.^[2] In the ninth chapter of his 1945 autobiography, Black Boy, Richard Wright quotes a snippet of verse that uses the term: "All these white folks dressed so fine / Their ass-holes smell just like mine ...". Its first appearance as an insult term in a newspaper indexed by Google News is in 1965.^[3] As with other vulgarities, these uses of the word may have been common in oral speech for some time before their first print appearances. By the 1970s, Hustler magazine featured people they did not like as "Asshole of the Month."^[4] In 1972, Jonathan Richman's Modern Lovers recorded his song "Pablo Picasso," which includes the line "Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole."

Until the early 1990s, the word was considered one of a number of words that could not be uttered on commercial television in the United States. Comedian Andrew Dice Clay caused a major shock when he uttered the word during a televised MTV awards show in 1989.^[5] However, there were PG-13 and R rated films in the 1980s that featured use of the word, such as the R-rated The Terminator (1984), the PG-13-rated National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), and the PG-rated Back to the Future (1985). By 1994, however, vulgarity had become more acceptable, and the word was featured in dialog on the long-running television series NYPD Blue, though it has yet to become anything close to commonplace on network TV. In some broadcast edits (such as the syndication airings of South Park), the word is partially bleeped out — ironically, as "assh—", with the profane half of the word intact.

Semantics[link]

The word is mainly used as a vulgarity, generally to describe people who are viewed as stupid or incompetent or detestable.^[6]

This word or its literal translation is found in colloquial speech in a number of cultures (in both English and other languages).^[7] This is because it describes an organ of elimination that is considered a taboo region (since it belongs to the intimate parts) of the body in many societies.^[8]

The English word ass (meaning donkey, a cognate of its zoological name Equus asinus) may also be used as a term of contempt, referring to a silly or stupid person. In the United States, and, to a lesser degree, in Canada, the words arse and ass have become synonymous; however, in the rest of the English-speaking world, ass still only refers to the donkey, rather than the arse (buttocks). It is worth noting that speakers of some varieties of English "drop their Rs" before consonants, leading to a pronunciation of arse that is quite similar to ass.^[9]

Political usage[link]

In 2000, during a Labor Day event, then candidate George W. Bush made an off-hand remark to his running mate, Dick Cheney, that New York Times reporter Adam Clymer was a "major league asshole." The gaffe was caught on microphone and led to a political advertisement chiding Bush for "using expletives ... in front of a crowd of families," produced for Democratic opponent Al Gore.^[10]

In February 2004, American media reported that during a rally of supporters, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Bush "an asshole" for believing his aides in supporting a coup against Chavez in 2002.^[11] The word in the original Spanish was "pendejo", and in news coverage the word was widely, though incorrectly, translated as "asshole"; the meaning of the word varies substantially in Latin America, and in Venezuela its meaning is closer to "fool".^[12] The following year, in September, Nightline host Ted Koppel said to Chavez on national television, "I'm going to perhaps shock you a little, but these are your words. You called President Bush an asshole," to which Chavez replied, "I've said various things about him. I don't know if I actually used that word."^[13]

See also[link]

• Arse
• The No Asshole Rule
• Sexual Slang
• Profanity

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2011)

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (November 2011)

Naomi Wolf
Wolf at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival
Born	Naomi Wolf (1962-11-12) November 12, 1962 (age 49) San Francisco, California
Occupation	Author
Nationality	American
Period	1990s-present
Notable work(s)	The Beauty Myth; The End of America

Naomi Wolf (born November 12, 1962) is an American author and political consultant. With the publication of The Beauty Myth, she became a leading spokesperson of what was later described as the third wave of the feminist movement.

Childhood, education and personal life[link]

Wolf was born in San Francisco in 1962 of Jewish descent.^[1][2] Her mother is Deborah Goleman, an anthropologist and the author of The Lesbian Community.^[3] Her father is the Romanian-born horror scholar Leonard Wolf. She attended Lowell High School and debated in regional speech tournaments as a member of the Lowell Forensic Society. She attended Yale University, where she received in 1984 her Bachelor of Arts in English literature; she was a Rhodes Scholar at New College, Oxford from 1985 to 1987.^[4]

Wolf was married to the former Clinton speechwriter David Shipley. They had two children, Rosa (b. 1995) and Joseph (b. 2000). Wolf and Shipley divorced in 2005.^[5]

Works[link]

Naomi Wolf speaking at Brooklyn Law School, January 29, 2009

[edit] The Beauty Myth

In the early 1990s, Wolf garnered international fame as a spokesperson of third-wave feminism^[6][7] as a result of the success of her first book The Beauty Myth, which became an international bestseller.^[4] In the book, she argues that "beauty" as a normative value is entirely socially constructed, and that the patriarchy determines the content of that construction with the goal of reproducing its own hegemony.

Wolf posits the idea of an "iron-maiden," an intrinsically unattainable standard that is then used to punish women physically and psychologically for their failure to achieve and conform to it. Wolf criticized the fashion and beauty industries as exploitative of women, but claimed the beauty myth extended into all areas of human functioning. Wolf writes that women should have "the choice to do whatever we want with our faces and bodies without being punished by an ideology that is using attitudes, economic pressure, and even legal judgments regarding women's appearance to undermine us psychologically and politically". Wolf argues that women were under assault by the "beauty myth" in five areas: work, religion, sex, violence, and hunger. Ultimately, Wolf argues for a relaxation of normative standards of beauty.^[8] In her introduction, Wolf positioned her argument against the concerns of second-wave feminists and offered the following analysis:

Wolf's book was a bestseller, receiving polarized responses from the public and mainstream media, but winning praise from most feminists. Second-wave feminist Germaine Greer wrote that The Beauty Myth was "the most important feminist publication since The Female Eunuch, and Gloria Steinem wrote, "The Beauty Myth is a smart, angry, insightful book, and a clarion call to freedom. Every woman should read it."^[10] British novelist Fay Weldon called the book "essential reading for the New Woman".^[11] Betty Friedan wrote in Allure magazine that "'The Beauty Myth' and the controversy it is eliciting could be a hopeful sign of a new surge of feminist consciousness."

However, Camille Paglia, whose Sexual Personae was published the same year as The Beauty Myth, derided Wolf as unable to perform "historical analysis", and called her education "completely removed from reality".^[12] Her comments touched off a series of contentious debates between Wolf and Paglia in the pages of The New Republic.^[13][14][15]

Likewise, Christina Hoff Sommers criticized Wolf for publishing the claim that 150,000 women were dying every year from anorexia. Sommers wrote that the actual number is closer to 100, a figure which others, such as Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards, claimed to be much too low. In the same interview, Sommers stated that Wolf had retracted the figure.^[16]

In the mainstream press, The New York Times published a harshly critical assessment of Wolf's work: Caryn James lambasted the book as a "sloppily researched polemic as dismissible as a hackneyed adventure film...Even by the standards of pop-cultural feminist studies, 'The Beauty Myth' is a mess."^[17] In a comparatively positive review, The Washington Post called the book "persuasive" and praised its "accumulated evidence."^[18]

[edit] Promiscuities

Promiscuities reports on and analyzes the shifting patterns of contemporary adolescent sexuality. Wolf claims that literature is rife with examples of male coming-of-age stories, covered autobiographically by D. H. Lawrence, Tobias Wolff, J. D. Salinger, and Ernest Hemingway, and covered misogynistically by Henry Miller, Philip Roth, and Norman Mailer. Wolf insists, however, that female accounts of adolescent sexuality have been systematically suppressed. She adduces cross-cultural material to demonstrate that women have, across history, been celebrated as more carnal than men. Wolf also argues that women must reclaim the legitimacy of their own sexuality by shattering the polarization of women between virgin and whore.^[19]

Promiscuities received, in general, negative reviews. The New York Times published a review that characterized Wolf as a "frustratingly inept messenger: a sloppy thinker and incompetent writer. She tries in vain to pass off tired observations as radical aperçus, subjective musings as generational truths, sappy suggestions as useful ideas".^[20] Two days earlier, however, a different Times reviewer praised the book, writing, "Anyone--particularly anyone who, like Ms. Wolf, was born in the 1960s--will have a very hard time putting down 'Promiscuities'. Told through a series of confessions, her book is a searing and thoroughly fascinating exploration of the complex wildlife of female sexuality and desire."^[21] In contrast, The Library Journal excoriated the work, writing, "Overgeneralization abounds as she attempts to apply the microcosmic events of this mostly white, middle-class, liberal milieu to a whole generation....There is a desperate defensiveness in the tone of this book which diminishes the force of her argument."^[22]

[edit] Misconceptions

Misconceptions examines modern assumptions surrounding pregnancy and childbirth. Most of the book is told through the prism of Wolf's personal experience of her first pregnancy. She describes the "vacuous impassivity" of the ultrasound technician who gives her the first glimpse of her new baby. Wolf both laments her C-section and examines why the procedure is commonplace in the United States, and advocates a return to more personal approaches to childbirth such as midwifery. The second half of the book catalogs a series of anecdotes about life after giving birth, focusing in particular on inequalities that arise in men and women's approaches and adjustments to child care.^[23]

[edit] The End of America

In The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot, Wolf takes a historical look at the rise of fascism, outlining the 10 steps necessary for a fascist group (or government) to destroy the democratic character of a nation-state and subvert the social/political liberty previously exercised by its citizens:

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create secret prisons where torture takes place
3. Develop a thug caste or paramilitary force not answerable to citizens
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Treat all political dissidents as traitors
10. Suspend the rule of law^[24]

The book details how this pattern was implemented in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and elsewhere, and analyzes its emergence and application in American political affairs since the September 11 attacks.^[25][26]

The End of America was adapted for the screen as a documentary by filmmakers Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern, best known for The Devil Came on Horseback and The Trials of Darryl Hunt. It had its worldwide premiere at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 17, 2008. It has since been screened at Sheffield DocFest in the UK, as well as in limited release at New York City's IFC Center. The film became available online on October 21, 2008 at SnagFilms.com. End of America was favorably reviewed in the New York Times by Stephen Holden^[27] as well as in Variety Magazine.^[28]

[edit] Give Me Liberty

Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries was written as a sequel to The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.

In the book, Wolf looks at times and places in history where citizens were faced with the closing of an open society and successfully fought back, and looks back at the ordinary people of the Founding Fathers of the United States' generation, the ones not named by history, all of whom had this "vision of liberty" and moved it forward by putting their lives on the line to make the vision real. She is an outspoken advocate for citizenship and wonders whether younger Americans have the skills and commitment to act as true citizens.^[29] She wrote in 2007:

Other writings[link]

Wolf's other books include Fire with Fire on politics, female empowerment and women's sexual liberation.^[31] The New York Times assailed the work for its "dubious oversimplifications and highly debatable assertions" and its "disconcerting penchant for inflationary prose," nonetheless noting Wolf's "efforts to articulate an accessible, pragmatic feminism, ...helping to replace strident dogma with common sense."^[32] The Time magazine reviewer dismissed the book as "flawed," noting however that Wolf was "an engaging raconteur" who was also "savvy about the role of TV -- especially the Thomas-Hill hearings and daytime talk shows -- in radicalizing women, including homemakers." The reviewer characterized the book as advocating an inclusive strain of feminism that welcomed abortion opponents.^[33]

In 2005, Wolf published The Treehouse: Eccentric Wisdom from my Father on How to Live, Love, and See, which chronicled her midlife crisis attempt to reclaim her creative and poetic vision and revalue her father's love, and her father's force as an artist and a teacher.

Feminist positions[link]

Wolf considers herself a liberal feminist.^{[citation needed]}

Abortion

In publishing an article in The New Republic that criticized contemporary pro-choice positions, Wolf argued that the movement had "developed a lexicon of dehumanization" and urged feminists to accept abortion as a form of homicide and defend the procedure within the ambiguity of this moral conundrum. She continues, "Abortion should be legal; it is sometimes even necessary. Sometimes the mother must be able to decide that the fetus, in its full humanity, must die."^[34]

Wolf concluded by speculating that in a world of "real gender equality," passionate feminists "might well hold candlelight vigils at abortion clinics, standing shoulder to shoulder with the doctors who work there, commemorating and saying goodbye to the dead."^[34] More recently, in an article on the subtle manipulation of George W. Bush's image among women, Wolf wrote "Abortion is an issue not of Ms. Magazine-style fanaticism or suicidal Republican religious reaction, but a complex issue."^[35]

Pro-life commentators said Wolf "fails to carry through fully in her analysis...this simply is not, or should not be, the unqualified response of our society to the destruction of innocent life."^[36]

Pornography

Wolf suggested in 2003 that the ubiquity of Internet pornography tends to enervate the sexual attraction of men toward typical real women. She writes, "The onslaught of porn is responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women, and leading men to see fewer and fewer women as 'porn-worthy.' Far from having to fend off porn-crazed young men, young women are worrying that as mere flesh and blood, they can scarcely get, let alone hold, their attention." Wolf advocates abstaining from porn not on moral grounds, but because "greater supply of the stimulant equals diminished capacity."^[37]

Sexual advances at Yale

In 2004 Wolf wrote an article for New York Magazine^[38] accusing acclaimed literary scholar Harold Bloom of a sexual "encroachment" more than two decades earlier, by touching her thigh. She said that what she alleged Bloom did was not harassment, either legally or emotionally, and she did not think herself a "victim", but she claimed to have harbored this secret for 21 years. Explaining why she had finally gone public with the charges, Wolf wrote, "I began, nearly a year ago, to try--privately--to start a conversation with my alma mater that would reassure me that steps had been taken in the ensuing years to ensure that unwanted sexual advances of this sort weren't still occurring. I expected Yale to be responsive. After nine months and many calls and e-mails, I was shocked to conclude that the atmosphere of collusion that had helped to keep me quiet twenty years ago was still intact--as secretive as a Masonic lodge."^{[citation needed]}

Reflecting on Yale University's sexual harassment guidelines, Wolf writes, "Sexual encroachment in an educational context or a workplace is, most seriously, a corruption of meritocracy; it is in this sense parallel to bribery. I was not traumatized personally, but my educational experience was corrupted. If we rephrase sexual transgression in school and work as a civil-rights and civil-society issue, everything becomes less emotional, less personal. If we see this as a systemic corruption issue, then when people bring allegations, the focus will be on whether the institution has been damaged in its larger mission."^[38]

A federal investigation of Yale University began in March 2011 in response to complaints that it has a sexually hostile environment. A formal complaint had been filed with the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights on March 15, 2011, by 16 current and former Yale students describing a sexually hostile environment at Yale.^{[citation needed]}

Women in Islamic countries

Wolf has spoken about the dress required of women living in Muslim countries:

The West interprets veiling as repression of women and suppression of their sexuality. But when I traveled in Muslim countries and was invited to join a discussion in women-only settings within Muslim homes, I learned that Muslim attitudes toward women's appearance and sexuality are not rooted in repression, but in a strong sense of public versus private, of what is due to God and what is due to one's husband. It is not that Islam suppresses sexuality, but that it embodies a strongly developed sense of its appropriate channeling - toward marriage, the bonds that sustain family life, and the attachment that secures a home.^[39]

Defence of Julian Assange

The December 20, 2010 airing of Democracy Now! featured a segment titled "Naomi Wolf vs. Jaclyn Friedman: Feminists Debate the Sexual Allegations Against Julian Assange" in which Jaclyn Friedman argues the sexual assault allegations against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange shouldn't be dismissed just because they may be politically motivated. Wolf argues that the alleged victims should have said no, that they consented to having sex with Assange, that the charges are politically motivated and demean the cause of legitimate rape victims. The discussion took place shortly after the leaking of the Swedish police report on the incident.^[40]

Political consultant[link]

Wolf was involved in Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election bid, brainstorming with the president's team about ways to reach female voters.^[41] During Al Gore's unsuccessful bid for the presidency in the 2000 election, Wolf was hired as a consultant to target female voters, reprising her role in the Clinton campaign. Wolf's ideas and participation in the Gore campaign generated considerable media coverage and criticism.^[42] According to a report by Michael Duffy in Time, Wolf was paid a monthly salary of $15,000 "in exchange for advice on everything from how to win the women's vote to shirt-and-tie combinations." This article was the original source of the widely reported claim that Wolf was responsible for Gore's "three-buttoned, earth-toned look."^[41][43]

In an interview with Melinda Henneberger in the New York Times, Wolf denied ever advising Gore on his wardrobe. Wolf herself claimed she mentioned the term "alpha male" only once in passing and that "[it] was just a truism, something the pundits had been saying for months, that the vice president is in a supportive role and the President is in an initiatory role... I used those terms as shorthand in talking about the difference in their job descriptions".^[44]

2011[link]

2011 arrest[link]

On October 20, 2011 Wolf was arrested in New York during the Occupy Wall Street protests. She was held in custody for an hour.^[45]

Subsequent Articles[link]

A month later, Naomi Wolf wrote an article that claimed that attacks on the Occupy movement were a coordinated plot, orchestrated by federal law enforcement agencies and implemented by American mayors^[46]. The response to this article ranged from praise to criticism of Wolf for being overly speculative and creating a "conspiracy theory" ^[47]. Wolf responded that there is ample evidence for her argument, and proceeded to review the information available to her at the time of the article, and new evidence since that time^[48]. On February 28, 2012, several news organizations published articles on information originally obtained by WikiLeaks and published by Rolling Stone^[49][50], the most significant of which was an October 2011 Department of Homeland Security internal document^[51] that concluded that

"The growing support for the OWS movement has expanded the protests’ impact and increased the potential for violence. While the peaceful nature of the protests has served so far to mitigate their impact, larger numbers and support from groups such as Anonymous substantially increase the risk for potential incidents and enhance the potential security risk to critical infrastructure (CI). The continued expansion of these protests also places an increasingly heavy burden on law enforcement and movement organizers to control protesters. As the primary target of the demonstrations, financial services stands the sector most impacted by the OWS protests. Due to the location of the protests in major metropolitan areas, heightened and continuous situational awareness for security personnel across all CI sectors is encouraged."

Writing in the magazine In These Times, Allison Kilkenny relates this to the ongoing Stratfor scandal and concludes that "the DHS document appears to be more concerned with protecting the mechanisms of the financial sector than in ensuring the safety of citizens who are exercising their First Amendment rights"^[52].

Selected books[link]

• The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women (1990) ISBN 0-06-051218-0, OCLC 22510801
• Fire with Fire (1994) ISBN 0-449-90951-4, OCLC 28420926
• Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood (or a Secret History of Female Desire) (1998) ISBN 0-449-90764-3 ISBN 0099205912 ISBN 0-517-45447-5, OCLC 36225757
• Misconceptions (2001) OCLC 46785027
• The Treehouse (2005) OCLC 225532631
• The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot (2007) ISBN 978-1-933392-79-0, OCLC 144769760
• Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries (2008) ISBN 978-1-4165-9056-9, OCLC 191933856

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (October 2011)

• Column archive at Project Syndicate
• Column archive at The Guardian
• Naomi Wolf's blog at The Huffington Post
• American Freedom Campaign Naomi Wolf's pro-democracy website
• The Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership Women's leadership organization co-founded by Naomi Wolf
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Naomi Wolf on Charlie Rose
• Naomi Wolf at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Naomi Wolf in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Naomi Wolf collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Critical Resources: Naomi Wolf
• FORA.tv - Wolf talks about "The End of America", October 9, 2007
• Interview by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, November 28, 2007 (video & audio links, and print transcript)
• 2007 Feature Interview with Naomi Wolf ('The End of America') on The Alcove with Mark Molaro
• Half-hour interview about the U.S. coup d'etat on YouTube, October 4, 2008
• "America's Slow-Motion Fascist Coup" 50-minute conversation between Naomi Wolf and Lew Rockwell, October 30, 2008
• Wheeler Centre interview - Naomi Wolf discusses what has changed since "The Beauty Myth" and her essay "The Silent Treatment"

Gary Michael Null (born in 1945) is an American talk radio host and author on alternative and complementary medicine and nutrition. On his talk radio show and in his books and self-produced movies, Null has criticized the medical community, promoted a range of alternative cancer treatments and dietary supplements, and questioned the link between HIV and AIDS.

In 2010, Null reported that he had been poisoned and nearly killed by ingesting one of his own dietary supplements, "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal". Null sued a contractor involved in producing the supplement, alleging that it contained more than 1,000 times the dose of vitamin D reported on the label, leading to the hospitalization of Null and six other consumers with vitamin poisoning.^[1][2][3]

Early life and education[link]

Null was raised in Parkersburg, West Virginia, with his two brothers. He holds an Associate Degree in Business Administration as well as a Bachelor of Science degree from Thomas Edison State College in Trenton, New Jersey. He received a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Union Institute & University, a private distance-learning college in Cincinnati, Ohio.^[4] Null's thesis was entitled "A Study of Psychological and Physiological Effects of Caffeine on Human Health." His credentials and the rigor of his Ph.D. program were questioned by Stephen Barrett of Quackwatch.^[5] Null is a New York State Certified dietitian-nutritionist.^[6]

Viewpoints[link]

Null attacks many facets of mainstream medicine, arguing that physicians have an economic interest in promoting rather than preventing sickness. In the 1970s, Null co-authored a series of articles on cancer research for Penthouse, beginning with one entitled "The Great Cancer Fraud."^[7] In Penthouse, Null accused the medical community of "suppressing alternative cancer treatments to protect the medical establishment's solid-gold cancer train." In place of standard medical therapy, Null advocated alternative cancer treatments such as hydrazine sulfate. In 1999 TIME wrote of Null's conspiracy claims: "From a young reporter this is to be expected. But two decades later, Null, 54, is still warning of a variety of medical bogeymen out to gull a trusting public."^[8]

In addition to his promotion of alternative cancer treatments, Null has argued that HIV is harmless and does not cause AIDS.^[8] In his book AIDS: A Second Opinion, Null questioned the role of antiretroviral medication and instead advocated a range of dietary supplements for HIV-positive individuals. His book was criticized as "massive, irresponsible and nearly unreadable" by Salon.com,^[9] and Seth Kalichman cited Null as a prominent proponent of AIDS denialism, cashing in on HIV/AIDS and repeating the claims of other denialists. Kalichman compared Null's activities to Holocaust denial and stated that Null was an example of a dangerous entrepreneur who "obviously breached" the balance between free speech versus protecting public health.^[10]

In 2009, Null was the keynote speaker at a rally opposing mandatory H1N1 influenza vaccination during the 2009 pandemic, leading the state health department to dismiss Null's claims about the vaccine as "not scientifically credible."^[11]

Radio and video work[link]

Null began broadcasting a syndicated radio talk show, Natural Living with Gary Null in 1980.^{[citation needed]} His show was broadcast first on WBAI, then on the VoiceAmerica Network and over the internet. Null's show subsequently returned to WBAI, leading to protests from ACT-UP New York and other AIDS activist groups concerned by Null's promotion of AIDS denialism.^[12][13]

Null has made several self-funded and self-produced documentary films on public policy issues, personal health, and development. His videos have been aired by PBS during pledge drives, but concern arose within PBS over the videos' sensational claims. Ervin Duggan, the president of PBS, expressed concern that by showing Null's videos, the network was "open[ing] the door to quacks and charlatans."^[14] Null implied that his problems with PBS may have been an attempt to silence him, saying: "The guardians of the gates of orthodoxy at PBS... you don't know who their friends are."^[8]

Dietary supplements and vitamin poisoning[link]

Null owns Gary Null & Associates, a company which markets dietary supplements, as well as a health-food store in New York City.^[15] In 2010, Null claimed that he was sickened and nearly killed by his own dietary supplements.^[1][3][2] He filed suit against a contractor involved in producing the supplement, "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal", claiming that the supplement contained 1,000 times the labeled dose of Vitamin D and that it had led to the hospitalizations of 6 consumers poisoned by excessive doses of the vitamin.^[1] Null reportedly suffered severe pain and kidney damage from "Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal", but continued consuming the supplement in the belief that it would relieve his symptoms.^[1]

The New York Post noted that Null's near-death experience with his own supplement brand was "not exactly a ringing endorsement."^[1] The Los Angeles Times wrote that Null's experience "should give pause to anyone lured by the extravagant claims of many supplements makers", and noted that it was common for dietary supplements to contain doses "wildly different than those indicated on their label" as a result of weak regulation.^[3] Null's attorney cast the alleged vitamin poisoning as an isolated incident, saying: "We don't want anything to affect the physical well-being of anyone or the reputation of the company."^[2]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Gary Null at the Internet Movie Database
• Homepage on Progressive Radio Network