Wednesday Martin

Wendy "Wednesday" Martin[1][2][3] is an American author and cultural critic[1] who writes and serves as a commentator on topics like parenting, step-parenting, female sexuality, motherhood, and popular culture.[4][5] She is the author of five books. She has also written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, Harper's Bazaar,[6] and The Daily Telegraph.

Wednesday Martin
BornWendy K. Martin
Ann Arbor, Michigan
OccupationAuthor, Cultural critic, Social researcher
LanguageEnglish
Period1995–
Genrememoir, social commentary, cultural criticism, biography
Notable worksPrimates of Park Avenue
Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel and Act the Way We Do
SpouseJoel Moser
Website
wednesdaymartin.com

Life and work

Martin was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan[7] and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[8] She did her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan where she studied anthropology[7][9] and received a doctorate in comparative literature and cultural studies from Yale University. Her doctoral work examined early psychoanalysis and anthropology.[10][11]

Martin has taught literature and cultural studies at Yale, The New School, and Baruch College.[12][13]

In May 2009, Martin's memoir about her experience as a stepmother called Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel and Act the Way We Do was published.[14][15]

After Martin moved to the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan with her family in 2004, she began researching and documenting her experiences there for her next book, Primates of Park Avenue.[15][16] Simon & Schuster released the book in June 2015.[17][18] The memoir recounted Martin's experience living among the wealthy women, particularly stay-at-home mothers, of the Upper East Side and examined their behavior from a social researcher's perspective, inspired by the work of Jane Goodall.[12][15][19] In June 2015, MGM studios purchased the film rights to Primates of Park Avenue from Martin.[1][20] In May 2018, Lionsgate and Martin agreed to collaborate on a television show developed and co-written by Martin based upon the book.[21] Primates has been translated into nine languages, as of 2018.[22]

In her book Untrue (2018), Martin focused on female sexuality and addressing untruths about women and sex.[23]

Martin has also written for Psychology Today,[24] The Daily Telegraph,[25] The New York Times,[26] The Huffington Post,[27] and The Atlantic.[28]

Publications

Martin is the author of the following books and ebooks:

  • Marlene Dietrich (1995)
  • Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel and Act the Way We Do (2009)
  • Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir (2015)
  • Untrue: Why Nearly Everything We Believe About Women, Lust, and Infidelity is Wrong and How the New Science Can Set Us Free (2018)
  • Boyfriends of Dorothy (2018)[29]
  • The Button (2018)
  • The Switch (2019)

Reception

In May 2013, several articles were published about the practice of hiring disabled guides to avoid lines at Disney World, which Martin uncovered during her research for Primates of Park Avenue.[30] On May 16, 2015, The New York Times published an essay by Martin in the Sunday Review section, titled Poor Little Rich Women, prior to the publication of her book Primates of Park Avenue.[26] The article received coverage from numerous media outlets,[31] in particular the concept of financial rewards called "wife bonuses", which Martin reported some Upper East Side wives receive from their husbands for superior domestic performance.[18][32] Following the essay, commentary appeared in the New York Post[33] and Page Six,[34] arguing both for and against Martin's account of wife bonuses. The New York Times characterized Martin's description of wife bonuses as "disputed".[35] It was one of the top 20 most-read articles in the New York Times that year.[36][37]

Primates of Park Avenue debuted at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list for Nonfiction E-Book,[38] number two for Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction[39] and number three for Nonfiction Hardcover.[40] In The New York Times review of the book, Martin's writing was called "confident" and "evocative".[41] The book received generally positive reviews from the San Francisco Chronicle,[42] The Economist[43] and the Financial Times.[44]

The book and its reception were the subject of multiple articles in the months before and after its publication in The New York Times,[18][20][35] as well as covered by publications including Time,[18] Vanity Fair,[45] and NPR.[15]

An article published by the New York Post outlined alleged discrepancies between Martin's published account and public records.[46] The Washington Post cast additional doubt on some of the book's assertions.[47][48] The day following the New York Post article, Simon & Schuster issued a public statement that changing names, dates, and identifying details is common in the genre of memoir, and that a note stating some information had been altered would be included with the e-book and future printings of Primates of Park Avenue.[49] Martin said that she had changed details in the book for privacy concerns[31] and told The Washington Post that “I stand by what I wrote, absolutely 100 percent”.[1]

Karen Heller of The Washington Post recapped the coverage in July 2015 and noted that "the copious coverage and social media chatter about the book...could possibly fill another book."[1]

Martin's third book, Untrue, received reviews from multiple publications including The Guardian,[50] the London Evening Standard,[51] The Atlantic,[52] and The New York Times.[53]

Personal life

Martin is married to Joel Moser, a lawyer, financier, chief executive officer and adjunct professor at Columbia University, with whom she has two sons, one born in 2001 and the other in 2007.[54][55][56][57] She has two step-daughters, children of Moser's first marriage.[14]

References
  1. Karen Heller (July 14, 2015). "The harried tale of 'Primates of Park Avenue'". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  2. Annie Lowrey (June 2015). "At Lunch With the Author Who Introduced the Upper East Side 'Wife Bonus'". New York. Retrieved June 8, 2015. She grew up as Wendy Martin...
  3. Gina Barreca (May 27, 2015). "The $150,000 Purse And Other 'Wife Bonuses'". Hartford Courant. Retrieved June 8, 2015. The author "Wednesday" Martin (her real name is Wendy, but I guess she liked the Addams Family)...
  4. Jeff Rossen and Josh Davis (May 31, 2013). "Undercover at Disney:Deplorable scheme to skip lines". Today. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  5. Emily Jane Fox (May 31, 2013). "Here's how much these moms spend to look good". CNN. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  6. Wednesday Martin (July 28, 2015). "When it comes to promiscuity, are women the new men?". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  7. Annie Lowrey (June 2, 2015). "At Lunch With the Author Who Introduced the Upper East Side 'Wife Bonus'". New York. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  8. Andrew Buncombe (June 16, 2015). "Primates of Park Avenue: Wednesday Martin says we should feel sorry for the pampered, privileged women of New York's Upper East Side". The Independent. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  9. Rachel Epstein. "A Cultural Study of the Ladies who Lunch". DuJour Magazine. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  10. Alfred Brophy (May 26, 2015). "Wednesday Martin's Primates of Fifth Avenue". The Faculty Lounge. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  11. Jesse Kornbluth (May 28, 2015). "Wednesday Martin Is the Margaret Mead of the .1%". The Observer. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  12. Jia Tolentino (June 2, 2015). "A Conversation With Wednesday Martin, Author of Primates of Park Avenue". Jezebel. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  13. "Wednesday Martin Ph.D." psychologytoday.com. Psychology Today. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  14. Heather Havrilesky (May 20, 2009). "A sympathetic new book about the family member everyone loves to hate suggests even the best stepmoms in the world are set up to fail miserably". Salon. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  15. "Rich Housewives Go Under The Microscope In 'Primates Of Park Avenue'". NPR. May 31, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  16. Jill Filipovic (June 4, 2015). "Why the Wealthy Women of New York's Upper East Side Are So Completely Fascinating". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  17. Hiroko Tabuchi (June 7, 2015). "Publisher to Put Asterisk on 'Primates of Park Avenue'". The New York Times. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  18. Belinda Luscombe (June 2, 2015). "What We Can Learn From Insanely Rich Parents". Time. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  19. Gina Barreca (May 27, 2015). "The $150,000 Purse And Other 'Wife Bonuses'". Hartford Courant. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  20. Andy Lewis and Rebecca Ford (June 15, 2015). "Controversial 'Primates of Park Avenue' Book Acquired by MGM (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  21. Lesley Goldberg (May 30, 2018). "'Primates of Park Avenue' TV Series in the Works". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  22. Victor P. Corona (June 11, 2016). "Primates, scolding, and dismissive finger-wagging". Contexts. Retrieved July 30, 2018. Martin’s New York Times Sunday Review piece, “Poor Little Rich Women,” was one of the paper’s twenty most-read pieces of the year
  23. Kerri Jarema (April 16, 2018). "'Untrue' By Wednesday Martin Will Challenge What You Think About Women & Sex — And The Cover Is Just As Revealing As The Book". Bustle. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  24. Wednesday Martin (July 16, 2015). "Deals, Divorce, Direction: Off-Label Uses for Psychoanalysis". Psychology Today. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  25. Wednesday Martin (January 23, 2013). "Banning the 'blended' family: why step-families will never be the same as first families". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  26. Wednesday Martin (May 16, 2015). "Poor Little Rich Women". The New York Times. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  27. Wednesday Martin (June 14, 2010). "The Dad Effect: How Fatherhood Changes Men and Why We Need More Books about Fathers". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  28. Wednesday Martin (July 15, 2015). "The Captivity of Motherhood". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  29. Porter Anderson (June 11, 2018). "Both Text and Audio Sold Together in Amazon Original Stories Collections". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
  30. Josh Levs (May 15, 2013). "Disney World vows action after report of wealthy hiring disabled to skip lines". CNN. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  31. Ben Yakas (June 7, 2015). "Shocker: Upper East Side "Wife Bonus" Book Reportedly Filled With Lies". Gothamist. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  32. Michelle Ruiz (May 21, 2015). "Do Stay-at-Home Moms Deserve a Salary?". Vogue. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  33. Polly Phillips (May 28, 2015). "I get a wife bonus and I deserve it, so STFU". New York Post. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  34. Mara Siegler (June 4, 2015). "Upper East Side socialite says 'wife bonuses' don't exist". Page Six. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  35. "Primates of Times Square: A Case Study". The New York Times. June 13, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  36. "The Top 100 New York Times Stories of 2015, by Total Time Spent". The New York Times. December 29, 2015. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  37. Victor P. Corona (June 11, 2016). "Primates, scolding, and dismissive finger-wagging". Contexts. Retrieved 30 July 2018. Martin’s New York Times Sunday Review piece, “Poor Little Rich Women,” was one of the paper’s twenty most-read pieces of the year
  38. "E-Book Nonfiction". nytimes.com. The New York Times. June 21, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  39. "Combined Print and E-Book Nonfiction". nytimes.com. The New York Times. June 21, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  40. "Hardcover Nonfiction". nytimes.com. The New York Times. June 21, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  41. Vanessa Grigoriadis (May 29, 2015). "'Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir,' by Wednesday Martin". The New York Times. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  42. Carolyne Zinko (August 6, 2015). "Primates of Pacific Heights". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  43. "A field guide to Park Avenue Unnatural selection". The Economist. June 20, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  44. Emma Jacobs (July 12, 2015). "'Primates of Park Avenue: A Memoir', by Wednesday Martin". Financial Times. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  45. Carson Griffith (June 4, 2015). "We Asked 10 Real U.E.S. Mommas (and One Husband) About the Primates of Park Avenue". Vanity Fair. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  46. Isabel Vincent and Melissa Klein (June 7, 2015). "Upper East Side housewife's tell-all book is full of lies". New York Post. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  47. Amy Argetsinger (June 8, 2015). "Forget the 'wife bonus.' How much more of 'Primates of Park Avenue' do we really believe?". The Washington Post Style Blog. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  48. Ben Rooney (June 8, 2015). "Book on New York City's glamorous wives adds disclaimer". CNNMoney. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  49. "Disclaimer to be added to popular 'Primates of Park Avenue'". Associated Press. June 8, 2015. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  50. Hughes, Kathryn (4 October 2018). "Untrue by Wednesday Martin review – the 'new science' on infidelity". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  51. Thomas-Corr, Johanna (18 October 2018). "Untrue by Wednesday Martin – review". Evening Standard. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  52. Copaken, Deborah (28 September 2018). "The 'Untrue' Woman". The Atlantic. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  53. La Ferla, Ruth (15 September 2018). "Wednesday Martin Dares to Call Her New Book 'Untrue". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
  54. "Shocker: Upper East Side "Wife Bonus" Book Reportedly Filled With Lies". Gothamist. June 7, 2015. Archived from the original on June 9, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015. Among the most glaring errors: Martin's first son was born in 2001 and her second was born in 2007, the year she moved from the Upper East Side to the Upper West Side. Martin talks about raising two boys on the UES throughout the book. She writes that she attended exercise classes at Physique 57 to lose her baby weight after her second son's birth. The Post claims that gym did not exist when she claims to have exercised there.
  55. "Joel Moser". Columbia University. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  56. Screws, Nic; Gordon, Amanda; Ankari, Moti. "Celebrity and Business Power Couples Pick the Perfect Valentine's Day Gifts". Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  57. "Joseph Martin". lifestorynet.com. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
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