Sherry Wolf (activist)
Encyclopedia
For the American surrealist painter and designer, see Sherry Wolf (artist).
Sherry Wolf (born in Brooklyn
, NY, May 4, 1965) is an American
revolutionary socialist, Jewish anti-Zionist, independent journalist and author. Openly
lesbian
, she was on the Executive Committee for the LGBT
National Equality March
for full civil rights
in October 2009. Wolf is a member of the International Socialist Organization
and an editor of the International Socialist Review
.
, New York
and attended Lawrence High School, where she was subject to homophobic slurs during her high school years. She later attended Northwestern College in Chicago
, where she graduated with honors in philosophy, was first introduced to socialist politics and began identifying as a lesbian and an anti-Zionist. Wolf first met members of the International Socialist Organization
, while helping them defend a women's clinic in downtown Chicago in 1983 and later became an active member herself, saying she "had never met people who had a broader analysis of the way society worked". Wolf lived in Paris after college, where she learned to speak French and organized with other socialists against the fascist Front National (FN). She returned to her native New York in 1988 to work and organize with the ISO.
activist for several decades. When she returned to New York, Wolf organized within gay activist groups like the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
(ACT UP). The group became active during a time when Wolf saw friends dying of AIDS on a regular basis. Wolf was, however, dissatisfied with ACT UP's approach, citing their hostility to trade union
s, anti-racist organizing and other such issues "outside" the gay community. Wolf attempted to connect LGBT liberation with other issues, such as union and immigration
struggles. In 2000, Wolf returned to Chicago to become an associate editor of the International Socialist Review
(ISR). She maintains criticisms of large nonprofit and lobbying organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC) for what she perceives as their mainstream strategies, or what she personally terms "Gay, Inc.":
Wolf argues that while society's attitudes towards LGBT people have become more favorable, gay-friendly legislation has not kept pace, blaming groups like HRC, who, she believes have substituted lobbying for struggle.
Wolf was part of a group of 13 activists arrested for sitting in
at Senator Dick Durbin's office as a part of the Chicago Harvey Milk
Week of Action. The activists demanded the senator add gender identity
to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
, of which he was a co-sponsor.
Wolf was also on the executive committee for the National Equality March
in October 2009, which drew 200,000 protesters to Washington DC, to demand full equality for LGBT people. It was the first mass gay rights march in a decade and the first mass protest to pressure President Barack Obama
to act on any of his campaign promises. She organized alongside other gay activists such as Cleve Jones
. Unlike other LGBT events, such as the annual Pride Parade in Boystown
, no corporations sponsored the National Equality March. Wolf spoke of the march:
Wolf, who is Jewish, is also a member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and argues that critics of Israel
are not anti-Semitic. She is also an advocate of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
campaign. In October 2010 she stated:
, MRZine
, CounterPunch
, New Politics
, Dissident Voice and Socialist Worker
.
She is also the author of the 2009 publication, Sexuality and Socialism, a series of essays on the roots of LGBT oppression
, the construction of sexual and gender identities, the history of the gay rights movement, and strategies to fight oppression
and exploitation
by analyzing different theories such as Marxism
, postmodernism
, identity politics
, and queer theory
.
Don Gorton
, Board Member of Join the Impact
states of the book: "The icons of the new generation of activists are people like Lady Gaga
, Dustin Lance Black
, Judy Shephard, Lt. Daniel Choi (ret.) and Sherry Wolf."
Dana Cloud of the University of Texas at Austin
called Sexuality and Socialism "at once politically important, theoretically and historically sophisticated, and clearly written... enlivened in its engagement with a number of controversies, including those over the alleged biological determination
of homosexuality
, the myth of Black homophobia, and the consequences of postmodernist theories for the politics of gay liberation
... a cogent defense of the Marxist tradition—long and wrongly reviled as homophobic in itself—as a way to explain how LGBT oppression arose and what we can do to put it to bed."
Christopher Phelps
of Ohio State University
called the book "a manifesto of mobilization and equality that matches the challenges of the present with a far-reaching vision of social and sexual liberation inspired by the spirit of Stonewall
and the sex-affirmative liberatory socialist tradition."
Amy Grishek of Rain Taxi
wrote of Sexuality and Socialism: "Sherry Wolf's little purple book is the operator's manual for a post-90's LGBT liberation movement. It shouldn't be read so much as carried, in backpacks and jacket pockets, on bus rides to marches; not shelved but passed, with meaningful glances and endearing words from hand to working hand. It is a text of purpose, 'a guide to action.' May every volume be well-used."
Sherry Wolf (born in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, NY, May 4, 1965) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
revolutionary socialist, Jewish anti-Zionist, independent journalist and author. Openly
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, she was on the Executive Committee for the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
National Equality March
National Equality March
The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C.. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...
for full civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
in October 2009. Wolf is a member of the International Socialist Organization
International Socialist Organization
The International Socialist Organization is a revolutionary socialist organization in the United States that identifies with the politics of International Socialism, a current of Trotskyism, and the Marxist political tradition that American socialist writer and activist Hal Draper called...
and an editor of the International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review may refer to:*International Socialist Review *International Socialist Review *International Socialist Review...
.
Early life
Wolf grew up on Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and attended Lawrence High School, where she was subject to homophobic slurs during her high school years. She later attended Northwestern College in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where she graduated with honors in philosophy, was first introduced to socialist politics and began identifying as a lesbian and an anti-Zionist. Wolf first met members of the International Socialist Organization
International Socialist Organization
The International Socialist Organization is a revolutionary socialist organization in the United States that identifies with the politics of International Socialism, a current of Trotskyism, and the Marxist political tradition that American socialist writer and activist Hal Draper called...
, while helping them defend a women's clinic in downtown Chicago in 1983 and later became an active member herself, saying she "had never met people who had a broader analysis of the way society worked". Wolf lived in Paris after college, where she learned to speak French and organized with other socialists against the fascist Front National (FN). She returned to her native New York in 1988 to work and organize with the ISO.
Activism
Wolf has been an active socialist and LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
activist for several decades. When she returned to New York, Wolf organized within gay activist groups like the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power
AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power is an international direct action advocacy group working to impact the lives of people with AIDS and the AIDS pandemic to bring about legislation, medical research and treatment and policies to ultimately bring an end to the disease by mitigating loss of health and...
(ACT UP). The group became active during a time when Wolf saw friends dying of AIDS on a regular basis. Wolf was, however, dissatisfied with ACT UP's approach, citing their hostility to trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s, anti-racist organizing and other such issues "outside" the gay community. Wolf attempted to connect LGBT liberation with other issues, such as union and immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
struggles. In 2000, Wolf returned to Chicago to become an associate editor of the International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review
International Socialist Review may refer to:*International Socialist Review *International Socialist Review *International Socialist Review...
(ISR). She maintains criticisms of large nonprofit and lobbying organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign
The Human Rights Campaign is the United States' largest LGBT advocacy group and lobbying organization; according to the HRC, it has more than one million members and supporters...
(HRC) for what she perceives as their mainstream strategies, or what she personally terms "Gay, Inc.":
Wolf argues that while society's attitudes towards LGBT people have become more favorable, gay-friendly legislation has not kept pace, blaming groups like HRC, who, she believes have substituted lobbying for struggle.
Wolf was part of a group of 13 activists arrested for sitting in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...
at Senator Dick Durbin's office as a part of the Chicago Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
Week of Action. The activists demanded the senator add gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act
Employment Non-Discrimination Act
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is a proposed bill in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by civilian, nonreligious employers with at least 15 employees.ENDA has been introduced in every...
, of which he was a co-sponsor.
Wolf was also on the executive committee for the National Equality March
National Equality March
The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C.. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...
in October 2009, which drew 200,000 protesters to Washington DC, to demand full equality for LGBT people. It was the first mass gay rights march in a decade and the first mass protest to pressure President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
to act on any of his campaign promises. She organized alongside other gay activists such as Cleve Jones
Cleve Jones
Cleve Jones is an American AIDS and LGBT rights activist. He conceived of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt which has become, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2009...
. Unlike other LGBT events, such as the annual Pride Parade in Boystown
Boystown, Chicago
Boystown is the popular name of a district within Chicago, Illinois. Situated within the neighborhood of Lakeview, it was the first officially recognized gay village in the United States, as well as the cultural center of one of the largest lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender communities in the nation...
, no corporations sponsored the National Equality March. Wolf spoke of the march:
Wolf, who is Jewish, is also a member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and argues that critics of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
are not anti-Semitic. She is also an advocate of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions refers to a campaign first initiated on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause ".....
campaign. In October 2010 she stated:
Writing
Apart from editing the ISR, Wolf has also written articles published in The NationThe Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, MRZine
Monthly Review
Monthly Review is an independent Marxist journal published 11 times per year in New York City.-History:The publication was founded by Harvard University economics instructor Paul Sweezy, who became the first editor...
, CounterPunch
Counterpunch
Counterpunch can refer to:* Counterpunch , a punch in boxing* CounterPunch, a bi-weekly political newsletter* Counterpunch , a type of punch used in traditional typography* Punch-Counterpunch, a Transformers character...
, New Politics
New Politics (magazine)
New Politics is an independent socialist journal founded in 1961 and still published in the United States today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication leans strongly toward a Third camp, democratic Marxist perspective, placing it typically to...
, Dissident Voice and Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker
Socialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
.
She is also the author of the 2009 publication, Sexuality and Socialism, a series of essays on the roots of LGBT oppression
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
, the construction of sexual and gender identities, the history of the gay rights movement, and strategies to fight oppression
Oppression
Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner. It can also be defined as an act or instance of oppressing, the state of being oppressed, and the feeling of being heavily burdened, mentally or physically, by troubles, adverse conditions, and...
and exploitation
Exploitation
This article discusses the term exploitation in the meaning of using something in an unjust or cruel manner.- As unjust benefit :In political economy, economics, and sociology, exploitation involves a persistent social relationship in which certain persons are being mistreated or unfairly used for...
by analyzing different theories such as Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
, identity politics
Identity politics
Identity politics are political arguments that focus upon the self interest and perspectives of self-identified social interest groups and ways in which people's politics may be shaped by aspects of their identity through race, class, religion, sexual orientation or traditional dominance...
, and queer theory
Queer theory
Queer theory is a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of LGBT studies and feminist studies. Queer theory includes both queer readings of texts and the theorisation of 'queerness' itself...
.
Don Gorton
Don Gorton
Don Gorton is a Massachusetts attorney who served as a state tax judge from 1997 to 2008.-Biography:Gorton has been an advocate for LGBT equality in Boston for over 25 years. He is perhaps best known as the longtime Co-Chair of the Governor's Task Force on Hate Crime, to which he was appointed by...
, Board Member of Join the Impact
Join the Impact
Join the Impact is an American LGBT political movement in support of gay rights which rapidly developed a national coalition after the passage of Proposition 8 in California. The website for the group was established November, 7th, 2008 after founders Amy Balliett and Willow Witte decided to...
states of the book: "The icons of the new generation of activists are people like Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, Dustin Lance Black
Dustin Lance Black
Dustin Lance Black is an American screenwriter, director, film and television producer, and LGBT rights activist. He has won two Writers Guild of America Awards for his work on the television series Big Love and an Academy Award for the 2008 film Milk.-Early life:Black was born in Sacramento,...
, Judy Shephard, Lt. Daniel Choi (ret.) and Sherry Wolf."
Dana Cloud of the University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
called Sexuality and Socialism "at once politically important, theoretically and historically sophisticated, and clearly written... enlivened in its engagement with a number of controversies, including those over the alleged biological determination
Biological determinism
Biological determination is the interpretation of humans and human life from a strictly biological point of view, and it is closely related to genetic determinism...
of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, the myth of Black homophobia, and the consequences of postmodernist theories for the politics of gay liberation
Gay Liberation
Gay liberation is the name used to describe the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s in North America, Western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand...
... a cogent defense of the Marxist tradition—long and wrongly reviled as homophobic in itself—as a way to explain how LGBT oppression arose and what we can do to put it to bed."
Christopher Phelps
Christopher Phelps
Christopher Phelps is an American political and intellectual historian of the twentieth century. The subjects of his research and writing include philosophical pragmatism, concepts of class and labor in social thought, the fate of the American Left and the socialist ideal, and ideas of race in...
of Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
called the book "a manifesto of mobilization and equality that matches the challenges of the present with a far-reaching vision of social and sexual liberation inspired by the spirit of Stonewall
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City...
and the sex-affirmative liberatory socialist tradition."
Amy Grishek of Rain Taxi
Rain Taxi
Rain Taxi is a Minneapolis-based book review and literary organization. In addition to publishing its quarterly print edition, Rain Taxi maintains an online edition with distinct content, sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, hosts readings, and publishes chapbooks through its Brainstorm Series...
wrote of Sexuality and Socialism: "Sherry Wolf's little purple book is the operator's manual for a post-90's LGBT liberation movement. It shouldn't be read so much as carried, in backpacks and jacket pockets, on bus rides to marches; not shelved but passed, with meaningful glances and endearing words from hand to working hand. It is a text of purpose, 'a guide to action.' May every volume be well-used."
Selected books
- Sexuality and Socialism, Haymarket Books, Chicago, 2009.
- Independent Politics: The Green Party Strategy Debate, Haymarket Books, Chicago, 2006.
Selected articles
- Why are Liberals Building the Right?, CounterPunch, October 11, 2010.
- Leveling the playing field, Socialist Worker, May 27, 2010.
- The Idiocy of Sex Testing, The Nation, August 21, 2009.
- LGBT Political Cul-de-sac: Make a U-Turn, New Politics, Winter, 2009.
- Why The Left Must Reject Ron Paul, Dissident Voice, December 13, 2007.
- Ron Paul, Libertarianism, and the Freedom to Starve to Death, MRZine, December 11, 2007.
- Israel, the “lobby,” and the United States: The watchdog, not the master, International Socialist Review, March–April, 2007.
External links
Further reading
- Mosque debate heats up Sherry Wolf on Hardball with Chris Matthews, August 23, 2010.