Clementine Ford (writer)

Clementine Ford (born 1981) is an Australian feminist writer, broadcaster and public speaker. She wrote a regular column for "Daily Life" for seven years.
Personal life.
Ford spent much of her childhood growing up in the Middle East, specifically in Oman on the eastern border of the United Arab Emirates. At the age of twelve, her family relocated to England.
After this time, Ford spent the remainder of her teenage years growing up in Adelaide, South Australia. As a teenager, Ford struggled with body image, body dysmorphia and an eating disorder.
She studied at the University of Adelaide, 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. Ford announced the birth of her son in August 2016.
Career.
In 2007 Ford began writing a column for Adelaide's "Sunday Mail", and she also began writing for the Drum. Many of her columns were about personal topics and some readers found these controversial. A 2009 article's byline stated that Ford's two abortions had been a "really, really easy decision without guilt or shame".
In 2014, she wrote of her outrage towards comments made by Cory Bernardi that labelled pro-choice 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, they would advocate for improved access to birth control, including terminations.
On White Ribbon Day in 2015, Ford made public some of the sexist and abusive messages that she had received online. Meriton Group, the employer of a man who had labeled Ford with a derogatory term, investigated Ford's complaint and the man was dismissed from his job. Three Adelaide High School boys were suspended from their school for the lewd comments they wrote about Ford.
In September 2016, Allen & Unwin published Ford's first book, "Fight Like a Girl". Two years later, her second book, "Boys Will Be Boys" was published, which focused on toxic masculinity and the patriarchy.
In February 2020, Ford began a podcast called "Big Sister Hotline" where she talks about current feminist issues and questions with guests such as: Florence Given, Salma El-Werdany, Gemma Carey, Aileen Quinn and Yasmin Abdel-Magied. 
Controversy.
In March 2016, Ford was banned from Facebook for 30 days for using profanity toward another user who had verbally abused her on her Facebook page. Ford accused Facebook of having a double standard, as the social networking site meanwhile declined to take action against a user who had posted a graphic internet meme making light of domestic violence.
In 2018 a Lifeline event featuring Ford was cancelled following a petition calling for her removal, after she had made Twitter comments such as "All men must die".
Ford resigned from her role as a columnist with "The Sydney Morning Herald" and "The Age" in January 2019, alleging that she had been "disciplined over a tweet" she made in regard to the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and that she had been told that it was the paper's policy to refrain from "disrespect[ing] the office of the PM".
In May 2020, Ford was criticized for her tweet stating that the coronavirus wasn't "killing men fast enough", which has since been deleted. A Melbourne City Council arts grants that had been awarded to Ford is now said to be "under review" as a result of Ford's comments. Lord Mayor Sally Capp stated that Ford's statement was "deliberately divisive and incredibly unhelpful when we are trying to keep our community together" during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following backlash, Ford responded on Twitter by stating that although she still stands "100% behind my fury at men exploiting women's unpaid labour", she has "reconsidered her flippancy in discussing it", and is "a big enough person to admit when [she's] misjudged something".
Bibliography.
Contributed chapter.
"There's Nothing Funny About Misogyny", pp. 189–197, in: "Destroying the Joint", edited by Jane Caro, Read How You Want (2015, ).
Introduction.
Stopes, Marie. "Married Love: A New Contribution to the Solution of Sex Difficulties: A Book for Married Couples", Brunswick: Scribe Publications (2013, )