Susan Griffin

Susan Griffin studied at San Francisco State University. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is ecofeminism, literature and opinion journalism. Employment is recorded with Ghent University. Works named in the authority record are Berkeley in the Sixties and Woman and Nature. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship and Emmy Award.

Griffin was born in Los Angeles, California on January 26, 1943. Following her father's death when she was 16, she bounced around the family but was eventually taken into the home and family of noted artist Morton Dimondstein. Her biological family were of Irish, Scottish, Welsh and German ancestry. Having spent a year in a post-War Jewish home, her German heritage wasn't openly spoken of and she initially demonized Germans, but later made several trips to Germany (including to the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp) to reconcile her Jewish and German heritages. She attended the University of California, Berkeley, for two years, then transferred to San Francisco State College, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing (1965) and her Master of Arts degree (1973), both degrees under the tutelage of Kay Boyle. She taught as an adjunct professor at UC Berkeley as well as at Stanford University and California Institute of Integral Studies. Griffin also taught at the California Institute for Integral Studies, Pacifica Graduate Institute, the Wright Institute, and the University of California. Griffin died from Parkinson's disease in Berkeley, California, on September 30, 2025, at the age of 82. Griffin's papers are located at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, at Harvard University.

Griffin wrote 21 books, including works of nonfiction, poetry, anthologies, plays, and a screenplay. Her work has been translated into over 12 languages. Griffin described her work as "draw[ing] connections between the destruction of nature, the diminishment of women and racism, and trac[ing] the causes of war to denial in both private and public life." "Rape: The All-American Crime" (1971), an article published in Ramparts, was one of the first publications about rape from a feminist perspective. Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her (1978) has sold more than 100,000 copies, and draws connections between ecological destruction, sexism, and racism. Considered a form of prose-poetry, this work is believed to have launched ecofeminism in the United States. Griffin attributed her connection to ecofeminism to her upbringing along the Pacific Coast, which she believed cultivated her awareness of ecology. Griffin articulated her anti-pornography feminism in Pornography and Silence: Culture's Revenge Against Nature (1981). In this work she makes the case that although the pursuit of freedom of speech could lead to a position against the censorship of pornography, the freedom to create pornography leads to a compromise of "human liberation" (since liberation of humankind would include the emancipation of women). She argues that pornography and eros are separate and opposing ideas, with pornography "express[ing] not a yearning for sexual liberation but its opposite, a desire to silence eros." According to Griffin, pornography's origins are rooted in a widespread fear of nature, and pornographic imagery "objectifies and degrades the (usually female) body". This, according to Griffin, teaches women to self-deprecate, and fuels an unhealthy, perverted culture. In contrast, Griffin argues that "real sexual liberation requires a reconciliation with nature, a healing between body and spirit". Critics largely responded to Pornography and Silence with contempt, many complaining that it came off as more of a rant than realistic philosophical discussion.

* • Poetry Foundation Biography • 1=Susan Griffin's reading lectures, RealAudio • Papers of Susan Griffin, 1914-2015 (inclusive), 1943-2015 (bulk): A Finding Aid. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. • Review of production of play Voices The Boston Phoenix (1982-07-06)