Naomi Wolf, the feminist writer and social critic, will be Scripps College’s commencement speaker on Sunday, May 14, 2000, at 3 p.m., on Elm Tree Lawn, on the Scripps campus.
Born in San Francisco in 1962, Ms. Wolf was educated at Yale University and at New College, Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. Her 1991 best-selling book, The Beauty Myth, has been credited with re-igniting the feminist movement. In the book, she vilifies the $20 billion-a-year cosmetics industry for ensuring that women remain fixated on their looks.
Her second book, Fire with Fire: The New Female Power and How it Will Change the 21st Century, in 1994, called for women to “build beyond” divisive tendencies within the feminist movement. Her latest book is Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood, published in 1997. At present, she is writing a book on mothering, You Walk That Bridge Alone, to be published by Anchor Books in early 2001.
Ms. Wolf’s essays have appeared in various publications including The New Republic, Wall Street Journal, Glamour, Ms., Esquire, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. She also speaks widely on college campuses.
Naomi Wolf has recently joined a board of remarkable young women who have formed The Woodhull Institute, and serves as its president. The institute’s goal is to cultivate ethical leadership for the 21st Century, primarily by teaching professional development in business, law, arts, and the media to young women in their 20s.
Ms. Wolf lives in New York City.