# Susan Griffin > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Susan_Griffin > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Susan_Griffin.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Griffin > Source revision: 1342042832 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American writer (1943–2025)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Susan Griffin | image = Susan griffin highres.jpg | alt = | caption = Photo by Mark Sarfati, taken in 1985, for the ''[East Bay Express](/source/East_Bay_Express)'', Berkeley, CA | birth_date = {{birth date|1943|01|26}} | birth_place = [Los Angeles, California](/source/Los_Angeles%2C_California), U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2025|09|30|1943|01|26}} | death_place = [Berkeley, California](/source/Berkeley%2C_California), U.S. | alma_mater = [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley) | occupation = {{hlist | Philosopher | essayist | playwright | poet}} | years_active = | children = 1{{cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/books/susan-griffin-dead.html|title = Susan Griffin, a Leading Voice of Ecofeminism, Is Dead at 82|last = Green|first = Penelope|date = October 12, 2025|accessdate = October 13, 2025|newspaper = [The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)|url-access = limited}} | notable_works = ''Woman and Nature'' (1978) | relatives = [Morton Dimondstein](/source/Morton_Dimondstein) (adoptive father) }} '''Susan Griffin''' (January 26, 1943 – September 30, 2025) was an American [radical feminist](/source/Radical_feminism) philosopher, essayist and playwright,{{cite web|title=Susan Griffin|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/susan-griffin|publisher=Poetry Foundation|access-date=March 26, 2017}} particularly known for her innovative, hybrid-form [ecofeminist](/source/Ecofeminism) works. ==Background== Griffin was born in Los Angeles, California on January 26, 1943.{{cite web|title=Griffin, Susan, referencing American Women Writers: A Critical Reference Guide from Colonial Times to the Present, The Gale Group, Inc., 2000|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/griffin-susan|publisher=Encyclopedia.com|access-date=July 6, 2019}} Following her father's death when she was 16, she bounced around the family but was eventually taken into the home and family of noted artist [Morton Dimondstein](/source/Morton_Dimondstein). Her biological family were of Irish, Scottish, Welsh and German ancestry. Having spent a year in a post-War Jewish home, her German heritage wasn't openly spoken of and she initially demonized Germans, but later made several trips to Germany (including to the [Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp](/source/Mittelbau-Dora_concentration_camp)) to reconcile her Jewish and German heritages.{{cite web|url=https://www.utne.com/arts/susan-griffin-author-gender-roles-montage-fields |title=Susan Griffin |date=January 1995 |publisher=Utne Visionary |access-date=October 22, 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://www.pulse-berlin.com/?p=152 |title=SUSAN GRIFFIN: FEMININE AND MASCULINE |date=May 2, 2015 |publisher=Pulse Berlin |access-date=October 22, 2019}} She attended the [University of California, Berkeley](/source/University_of_California%2C_Berkeley), for two years, then transferred to [San Francisco State College](/source/San_Francisco_State_College), where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing (1965) and her Master of Arts degree (1973), both degrees under the tutelage of [Kay Boyle](/source/Kay_Boyle).{{Cite news|url=https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2017-03-29/hear-her-roar-ecofeminist-author-susan-griffin-isnt-going|title=Hear Her Roar: Ecofeminist Author Susan Griffin Isn't Going Away|date=March 28, 2017|work=Cal Alumni Association|access-date=March 27, 2018|language=en|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327084521/https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/just-in/2017-03-29/hear-her-roar-ecofeminist-author-susan-griffin-isnt-going|archivedate=March 27, 2018|url-status=dead}} She taught as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley as well as at [Stanford University](/source/Stanford_University) and [California Institute of Integral Studies](/source/California_Institute_of_Integral_Studies). Griffin also taught at the California Institute for Integral Studies, Pacifica Graduate Institute, [the Wright Institute](/source/the_Wright_Institute), and the University of California.{{cite web|url=https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/7239 |title=Papers of Susan Griffin, 1914-2015 (inclusive), 1943-2015 (bulk) |website=hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu |access-date=September 13, 2023}} Griffin died from [Parkinson's disease](/source/Parkinson's_disease) in Berkeley, California, on September 30, 2025, at the age of 82.{{cite news |title=Remembering Susan Griffin, pioneering voice of ecofeminism |url=https://www.berkeleyside.org/2025/10/03/susan-griffin-author-obituary |newspaper=[Berkeleyside](/source/Berkeleyside) |date=October 3, 2025 |access-date=October 4, 2025}} Griffin's papers are located at the [Schlesinger Library](/source/Schlesinger_Library), Radcliffe Institute, at [Harvard University](/source/Harvard_University).{{cite web |title=Collection: Papers of Susan Griffin |url=https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/7239 |website=Hollis for Archival Discovery |access-date=January 10, 2022}} ==Work== Griffin wrote 21 books, including works of nonfiction, poetry, anthologies, plays, and a [screenplay](/source/Berkeley_in_the_Sixties). Her work has been translated into over 12 languages. Griffin described her work as "draw[ing] connections between the destruction of nature, the diminishment of women and racism, and trac[ing] the causes of war to denial in both private and public life."{{Cite web|url=http://susangriffin.com/bio/|title=Bio – Susan Griffin|work=susangriffin.com|access-date=December 11, 2016}} "Rape: The All-American Crime" (1971), an article published in [''Ramparts''](/source/Ramparts_(magazine)), was one of the first publications about rape from a feminist perspective.{{cite journal |last1=Griffin |first1=Susan |title=Rape: The All-American Crime |journal=Ramparts |date=September 1971 |pages=26–35}} ''Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her'' (1978) has sold more than 100,000 copies, and draws connections between ecological destruction, sexism, and racism. Considered a form of prose-poetry, this work is believed to have launched [ecofeminism](/source/ecofeminism) in the United States. Griffin attributed her connection to ecofeminism to her upbringing along the Pacific Coast, which she believed cultivated her awareness of ecology. Griffin articulated her anti-pornography feminism in ''Pornography and Silence: Culture's Revenge Against Nature'' (1981).{{cite news|last1=Willis|first1=Ellen|title=NATURE'S REVENGE|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/12/books/nature-s-revenge.html?pagewanted=all|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 12, 1981|access-date=March 26, 2017}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/12/books/nature-s-revenge.html|title=NATURE'S REVENGE|last=Willis|first=Ellen|newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 12, 1981 |access-date=April 9, 2018|language=en}} In this work she makes the case that although the pursuit of freedom of speech could lead to a position against the censorship of pornography, the freedom to create pornography leads to a compromise of "human liberation" (since liberation of humankind would include the emancipation of women). She argues that pornography and [eros](/source/eros) are separate and opposing ideas, with pornography "express[ing] not a yearning for sexual liberation but its opposite, a desire to silence eros."{{cite web|last1=Tonella|first1=Karla|title=Susan Griffin Pornography and Silence: transcript of KPFA broadcast|url=http://bailiwick.lib.uiowa.edu/wstudies/griffin.html|website=bailiwick @ the university of iowa libraries|publisher=The University of Iowa|date=1981|access-date=March 27, 2017}}{{cite book|last1=Griffin|first1=Susan|title=Pornography and Silence: Culture's Revenge Against Nature|date=July 28, 2015|url=https://www.amazon.com/Pornography-Silence-Cultures-Revenge-Against-ebook/dp/B00Z8POVUW/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1|publisher=Harper & Row|access-date=March 27, 2017}} According to Griffin, pornography's origins are rooted in a widespread fear of nature, and pornographic imagery "objectifies and degrades the (usually female) body".{{cite book|title=Love and Politics : Radical Feminist and Lesbian Theories|author=Douglas, Carol Anne|chapter=Male Biology as a Problem : Woman the Natural|pages=78–9|publisher=ISM PRESS|date=July 1990|location=San Francisco, CA, USA|isbn=9780910383172}} This, according to Griffin, teaches women to self-deprecate, and fuels an unhealthy, perverted culture. In contrast, Griffin argues that "real sexual liberation requires a reconciliation with nature, a healing between body and spirit". Critics largely responded to ''Pornography and Silence'' with contempt, many complaining that it came off as more of a rant than realistic philosophical discussion.{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/susan-griffin-6/woman-and-nature-the-roaring-inside-her/|title=WOMAN AND NATURE: The Roaring Inside Her by Susan Griffin {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en-us}} ==Awards== Griffin received a [MacArthur](/source/MacArthur_Foundation) grant for Peace and International Cooperation, [NEA](/source/National_Endowment_for_the_Arts) and [Guggenheim Foundation](/source/John_Simon_Guggenheim_Memorial_Foundation) fellowships, and a local [Emmy Award](/source/Emmy_Award) for the play ''Voices''.{{cite web |title=Susan Griffin: Plays |url=https://susangriffin.com/playspoetry/ |website=susangriffin.com/ |access-date=September 4, 2024}} She is featured in the 2014 feminist history film ''[She's Beautiful When She's Angry](/source/She's_Beautiful_When_She's_Angry)''.{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/05/shes-beautiful-when-shes-angry_n_6278698.html |title='She's Beautiful When She's Angry' Tells The Feminist History Left Out Of Your School Textbook |work=The Huffington Post |date=December 15, 2014 |access-date=March 4, 2017}} She was a finalist for the [Pulitzer Prize](/source/Pulitzer_Prize) for General Nonfiction in 1993 for ''A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War.''{{Cite web|url=http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/223|title=The Pulitzer Prizes: General Nonfiction|website=Pulitzer}} == Criticism == Many critics praise Griffin's blunt takes and insights to the role of feminism in every major issue today, while others have criticized her writings for being too convoluted or ranting. Largely, reviews for Griffin's work take opposing views on the intertwining and complicated connections she suggests between the woman and larger worldly issues such as war, disease, pornography, and nature itself. These webs are mirrored in her unique writing style which critics have reflected upon extensively. In a 1994 review by Carol H. Cantrell, Griffin's ''Woman and Nature'' is characterised as "hard to describe. Most of it looks like prose on the page but the thought is fragmented, metaphorical, and discontinuous; there are plenty of stories, but they too are often elliptical and metaphorical."{{Cite journal|last=Cantrell|first=Carol H.|date=1994|editor-last=Griffin|editor-first=Susan|title=Women and Language in Susan Griffin's Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her|jstor=3810198|journal=Hypatia|volume=9|issue=3|pages=225–238|doi=10.1111/j.1527-2001.1994.tb00459.x|s2cid=144630099 }} In a review of ''What Her Body Thought: A Journey into the Shadows'', Susan Dion of ''The Women's Review of Books'' wrote: "...Griffin is not merely reiterating old themes in feminist scholarship or the history of medicine; rather, she probes, ponders, and suggests different ways of considering many interrelated issues...Griffin's musings and hypotheses are fresh, smart, and instructive, if not always convincing."{{Cite journal|last=Dion|first=Susan|date=1999|editor-last=Griffin|editor-first=Susan|title=Sick and Tired|jstor=4023361|journal=The Women's Review of Books|volume=17|issue=1|pages=11–12|doi=10.2307/4023361}} ==Published works== *[https://books.google.com/books?id=oVHVCQAAQBAJ ''Woman and Nature: the Roaring Inside Her''] (1978) Ecofeminist treatise (1st Edition, has since been reprinted) *[https://books.google.com/books?id=V1HVCQAAQBAJ ''Rape: The Politics of Consciousness''] (1979) OCLC 781089176 {{ISBN|0062503502}} *[https://books.google.com/books?id=xlHVCQAAQBAJ ''Pornography and Silence: Culture's Revenge Against Nature''] (1981) OCLC 964062418 {{ISBN|0704338777}} *"Sadomasochism and the erosion of self: a critical reading of Story of O," in ''[Against Sadomasochism: A Radical Feminist Analysis](/source/Against_Sadomasochism%3A_A_Radical_Feminist_Analysis)'', ed. Robin Ruth Linden (East Palo Alto, Calif. : Frog in the Well, 1982.), pp. 183–201 *''Unremembered Country'': poems ([Copper Canyon Press](/source/Copper_Canyon_Press), 1987) OCLC 16905255 {{ISBN|1556590008}} *[https://books.google.com/books?id=WlLVCQAAQBAJ ''A Chorus of Stones: the Private Life of War''] (1993) Psychological aspects of violence, war, womanhood OCLC 1005479046 {{ISBN|038541885X}} *[https://books.google.com/books?id=OFPVCQAAQBAJ ''The Eros of Everyday Life: Essays on Ecology, Gender and Society''] (1995) OCLC 924501690 {{ISBN|0385473907}} *''Bending Home: Selected New Poems, 1967-1998'' (Copper Canyon Press, 1998) OCLC 245705378 {{ISBN|1556590865}} *[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZCL1ajXuRFcC ''What Her Body Thought: a Journey into the Shadows''] (1999) *[https://books.google.com/books?id=2GIQrnvJWmMC ''The Book of the Courtesans: a Catalogue of Their Virtues''] (2001) *[https://books.google.com/books?id=ca9EBgAAQBAJ ''Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy: On Being an American Citizen''] (2008) *[https://books.google.com/books?id=KiO8x3Dvp8kC ''Transforming Terror: Remembering the Soul of the World''], co-edited with Karen Lofthus Carrington (University of California Press, 2011) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * {{official website|http://susangriffin.com}} * [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/susan-griffin Poetry Foundation Biography] * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20060601163211/http://wiredforbooks.org/susangriffin/ Susan Griffin's reading lectures, RealAudio]}} * [https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/7239 Papers of Susan Griffin, 1914-2015 (inclusive), 1943-2015 (bulk): A Finding Aid.] [https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library Schlesinger Library], Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. * [https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_1982-07-06_11_27/page/n64/mode/1up Review of production of play ''Voices''] ''[The Boston Phoenix](/source/The_Phoenix_(newspaper))'' (1982-07-06) {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Susan}} Category:1943 births Category:2025 deaths Category:20th-century American Jews Category:20th-century American poets Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American women writers Category:American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Category:American LGBTQ poets Category:American anti-racism activists Category:American feminist writers Category:American lesbian writers Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American women activists Category:American women dramatists and playwrights Category:American women essayists Category:Anti-pornography feminists Category:Deaths from Parkinson's disease in California Category:Ecofeminists Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Jewish American anti-racism activists Category:Jewish American dramatists and playwrights Category:Jewish American feminists Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers Category:Jewish American poets Category:Jewish American women writers Category:Jewish women non-fiction writers Category:Lesbian Jews Category:Lesbian dramatists and playwrights Category:Lesbian feminists Category:Lesbian poets Category:Radical feminists Category:Writers from Berkeley, California Category:Writers from Los Angeles Category:20th-century American women poets --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Susan Griffin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Griffin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Griffin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.