Marie Meiselman Shear (1940 – December 2017), also known as Marie Shear Meiselman, was an American writer and feminist activist, known for her definition of feminism as "The radical notion that women are people."
Marie Shear | |
|---|---|
 Marie Shear as a college student, from a 1963 newspaper. | |
| Born | Marie Shear Meiselman 1940 |
| Died | 2017 (aged 76–77) |
| Other names | Marie Meiselman Shear |
| Alma mater | Brooklyn College |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, feminist activist |
Early life
editMarie Shear Meiselman[1][2] majored in English at Brooklyn College,[3] and graduated in 1964.[4][5]
Career
editShear described herself as a "widely unheralded writer & editor".[6] She was an active member of the National Writers Union and the Brooklyn chapter of the National Organization for Women.[7] For eight years, Shear wrote a satirical column in New Directions for Women entitled "Shear Chauvinism".[7] She also wrote opinion and advice essays for Ms. Magazine and the San Francisco Examiner,[8][9][10] and contributed to The Women's Review of Books.[11]
Shear coined the phrase "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people" in her review of A Feminist Dictionary in New Directions for Women in 1986.[12] It appears as one of over thirty additional definitions created by Shear as a 'toast' to the compilers of the dictionary, which has led to its misattribution to those compilers (Cheris Kramarae, Paula A. Treichler, and Ann Russo).[13]
Personal life
editShear died in late December 2017, in her seventies.[7]
References
edit- ^ "Top Students Receive Awards". Kings Courier. December 22, 1962. p. 3. Retrieved May 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Simply Topping Students". Daily News. December 11, 1963. p. 587. Retrieved May 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "473 Students Named to Dean's List". Kings Courier. November 10, 1962. p. 16. Retrieved May 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Brooklyn College Magazine, volume 21, number 2 (Fall 2007), page 37.
- ^ "In Memoriam". Brooklyn College Magazine. 6. Spring 2019.
- ^ For example, in 'The Right Woman', Women's Review of Books (May/June 2006).
- ^ a b c Thaler-Carter, Ruth E. (2018). "Marie Shear, 1940–2017". Editorial Freelancers Association. Retrieved January 31, 2019.
- ^ Shear, Marie (July 13, 1986). "Potty Politics". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 253. Retrieved May 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Shear, Marie (May 25, 1986). "Big Tobacco's Smokescreen". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 160. Retrieved May 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Shear, Marie (December 22, 1985). "Solving the Great Pronoun Problem". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 207. Retrieved May 9, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Front Matter". The Women's Review of Books. 6 (8): 2–27. 1989. ISSN 0738-1433. JSTOR 4020404.
- ^ Marie Shear, 'Media Watch: Celebrating Women's Words', New Directions for Women volume 15, issue 3 (May/June 1986), page 6.
- ^ Beverly McPhail, 'Feminism: A Radical Notion'
Further reading
edit- 'Shear, Marie' in Barbara J. Love (editor), Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975 (University of Illinois Press, 2006)
- Deborah Cameron, 'Radical notions', Language: A Feminist Guide (January 26, 2019)
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