Clementine Ford is an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

writer, columnist, broadcaster and public speaker on women's rights and other social and political issues.

Personal life

Ford spent much of her childhood growing up in the Middle East, specifically in

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

on the eastern border of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. At the age of 12, her family relocated to England. Ford spent the remainder of her teenage years growing up in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, South Australia. As a teenager, she struggled with body image, body dysmorphia and an eating disorder. Ford studied at the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

, where she took a gender studies course; she describes this as a personal catalyst for her decision to become a women's rights activist. During her time at the university she also worked as an editor and contributor for the student newspaper '' On Dit''. Ford moved from Adelaide to Melbourne in 2011. She announced the birth of her son in August 2016. Ford has stated that raising her son with little assistance from her partner put pressure on the relationship, which she left.

Career

Ford is known as a journalist, author and feminist activist. In 2018,

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

lecturer Michelle Smith considered Ford to be "Australia's most prominent contemporary feminist". Ford's writing career includes her contributions as a columnist. Ford wrote a regular column for ''Daily Life'' for seven years. In 2007, Ford began writing a column for Adelaide's '' Sunday Mail'' and also began writing for ''The Drum''. Topics Ford wrote about included destigmatising abortion; she described having an abortion herself as an easy decision that she feels no shame for. In 2014, she wrote of her outrage towards comments made by

Cory Bernardi Cory Bernardi (born 6 November 1969) is an Australian conservative political commentator and former politician. He was a Senator for South Australia from 2006 to 2020, and was the leader of the Australian Conservatives, a minor political party h ...

which labelled

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

advocates "pro-death" soldiers of the "death industry". 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 that they would advocate for improved access to birth control, including terminations. In January 2019, Ford resigned from her role as a columnist with ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' and ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', alleging that in September 2018 she had been disciplined over a tweet calling then prime minister

Scott Morrison Scott John Morrison (born 13 May 1968) is an Australian former politician who served as the 30th prime minister of Australia from 2018 to 2022. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party and was ...

"a fucking disgrace" for his negative comments concerning teacher training on identifying and supporting potentially transgender students, and that she had been told it was the paper's new policy to refrain from "disrespect ngthe office of the PM". Fairfax Media responded that their social media policy, which covered contributors, prohibited the use of "abusive language".Clementine Ford quits Nine newspaper column, saying she was almost fired over tweet about Prime Minister
, 31 January 2019, ''ABC''. Retrieved 31 January 2019. In September 2016,

Allen & Unwin George Allen & Unwin was a British publishing company formed in 1911 when Sir Stanley Unwin purchased a controlling interest in George Allen & Co. It became one of the leading publishers of the twentieth century and established an Australian ...

published Ford's first book, '' Fight Like a Girl''. Her second book, '' Boys Will Be Boys: Power, Patriarchy and Toxic Masculinity'', was published in 2018. In February 2020, Ford began a podcast called ''Big Sister Hotline'' in which she talks about current feminist issues and questions with guests such as Florence Given and Yasmin Abdel-Magied.

2024 doxxing incident

In February 2024, Ford re-shared leaked details of a private WhatsApp group called J.E.W.I.S.H creatives and academics, after some members of the group discussed ways to jeopardise Ford's employment because she was a pro-Palestinian activist. Ford said the leak was a response to attempts to "silence voices calling for Palestinian liberation". Ford's action caused debate in the media on whether her actions were justified, with the

Executive Council of Australian Jewry The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) is a peak body representing the Australian Jewish community, and the umbrella organisation for over 200 Jewish organisations across Australia. It is the Australian affiliate of the World Jewish C ...

and some outlets accusing her of

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

. Ford responded by saying the fact the group members were Jewish was "utterly irrelevant" to her sharing their information.

Publications

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Clementine Living people 1981 births Australian feminist writers Place of birth missing (living people) University of Adelaide alumni Australian abortion-rights activists Writers from Adelaide Date of birth missing (living people)