Suzanne Moore

Suzanne Lynn Moore (born 17 July 1958)[1] is an English journalist.

Suzanne Moore
Moore on Novara Media in 2017
Born	Suzanne Lynn Moore (1958-07-17) 17 July 1958 Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Education	Northgate Grammar School for Girls
Alma mater	Middlesex Polytechnic
Occupation	Journalist
Years active	1980–present
Children	3 daughters

Early life and education

Moore is the daughter of an American father and a working-class British mother, who split up during her childhood.[1] She grew up in Ipswich and attended Northgate Grammar School for Girls.[1][2]

After various jobs in Britain and overseas, including waitressing, shop work and door to door sales, Moore embarked on a psychology degree at Middlesex Polytechnic, but soon switched to cultural studies. She began a PhD and journalism career simultaneously after graduation, but ceased work on her doctorate after 18 months.[1]

Journalism career

During her career Moore has written for Marxism Today,[3] The Mail on Sunday, Daily Mail, The Independent, The Guardian, and the New Statesman. In The Guardian in 1995, Moore falsely stated that Germaine Greer had undergone a hysterectomy at 25. Greer responded by accusing Moore of possessing "hair bird's-nested all over the place, fuck-me shoes and three fat inches of cleavage."[4]

In January 2013, a "throwaway" comment in an essay by Moore, which had been reprinted by the New Statesman,[5] was criticised on Twitter as transphobic, to which she responded. Her response led to a larger row involving wider sections of the transfeminist and radical feminist blogosphere, and after her friend Julie Burchill came to her defence in an opinion piece in The Observer, which was widely criticised as hate speech and withdrawn by the paper the following day,[6][7] the row expanded to much of the British press.[8]

In June 2019, Moore wrote in an article entitled 'Why is it so hard for Labour to find a woman to be leader?', that Jeremy Corbyn was "not concerned enough to actually have many (women in the Labour leadership)" and that "Labour has a shortage of women, not on its benches but in its inner circle."[9] Commentators pointed out that 15 members, i.e. around half, of the Shadow Cabinet were women, and suggested that Moore had ignored these largely working class, northern, left-wing and black women and that her motive in writing the article was to promote as potential replacements for Corbyn two MPs that she did note, Stella Creasy and Jess Phillips.[10]

In March 2020, following the publication of an opinion piece written by Moore, titled "Women must have the right to organise. We will not be silenced." in The Guardian,[11] the paper received a letter of complaint, with over 200 signatories, which rejected the implication that "advocating for trans rights poses a threat to cisgender women".[12] The letter was signed by politicians such as Siân Berry, Christine Jardine, Nadia Whittome and Zarah Sultana, writers and journalists including Ash Sarkar and Reni Eddo-Lodge and a range of campaigners for human rights, women's rights and racial justice.[13] The newspaper published the letter alongside others received in response to the article, both supportive and critical.[12]

Politics

Moore stood as an independent candidate for the constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington in the 2010 UK general election due to her disillusionment with the main political parties.[1] She finished sixth with 0.6% of the vote, losing to Diane Abbott and forfeiting her deposit.[14]

Personal life

Moore has lived in the Hackney area since the early 1990s, and is a single mother. She has three daughters from various relationships.[1]

References

1. Cochrane, Kira (30 April 2010). "Suzanne Moore: 'Vote for me, I'm flawed'". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
2. Parker, Pat (20 September 2011). "Rebelling against Suffolk". East Anglian Daily Times. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
3. Moore, Suzanne (23 July 2015). "When I worked at Marxism Today, my desire to earn a living proved to be somewhat déclassé". New Statesman. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
4. Thackray, Rachelle (21 February 1999). "Germaine smacks her sisters". The Independent. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
5. Moore, Suzanne (8 January 2013). "Seeing red: the power of female anger". New Statesman. Retrieved 11 March 2020. We [women] are angry with ourselves for not being happier, not being loved properly and not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual.
6. Krase, Jennifer C. (19 January 2013). "Suzanne Moore: timeline of trans-misogynistic twitter rant (with tweets)". Storify. Archived from the original on 22 January 2013.
7. Woodhouse, Laura (13 January 2013). "The Observer publishes transphobic hate speech by Julie Burchill". The F-Word. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
8. "Moore, Burchill and the Web – A Timeline". Trans Media Action. 18 January 2013. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013.
9. Moore, Suzanne (17 June 2019). "Why is it so hard for Labour to find a woman to be leader?". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
10. Lockley, Frea (18 June 2019). "The Guardian launches a bizarre attack on Labour women that backfires spectacularly". The Canary. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
11. Moore, Suzanne (2 March 2020). "Women must have the right to organise. We will not be silenced". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
12. "Differing perspectives on transgender rights". The Guardian. 4 March 2020. Retrieved 10 March 2020.
13. Parsons, Vic (5 March 2020). "Hundreds of feminists write to The Guardian rejecting argument that trans rights threaten women". PinkNews. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
14. "Election 2010: Hackney North & Stoke Newington". BBC News. Retrieved 24 September 2015.

External links

• Suzanne Moore on IMDb