Susan G. Cole
| Susan G Cole | |
|---|---|
| Born |
February 9, 1952 Toronto |
| Occupation | Activist / Author / Radio Broadcaster |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Notable works | Pornography and the Sex Crisis, Power Surge: Sex Violence and Pornography |
| Notable awards | YMCA's Woman of Distinction |
Susan G. Cole (born February 9, 1952) is a Canadian feminist author, activist, editor, speaker and playwright. She has spoken out on a number of issues, including free speech, pornography, race and religion. Her 2010 appearance on FOX News in support of students protesting the appearance of Ann Coulter on the University of Ottawa campus has engaged her in the debate on freedom of speech. As a lesbian activist and mother – her daughter Molly is 22 years old – she speaks out on sexuality and family issues and is a columnist.
Cole was born on February 9, 1952 to Lillian and Maxwell Cole. She has two siblings, Ellen Cole and Peter Cole. In 1970 she graduated from Forest Hill Collegiate, where she was the first female to be elected president of the student council. She later received her Bachelor of Arts in Classics at Harvard College, where she helped found the university’s first women’s collective in 1970. She received the Rockefeller Fellowship from Harvard College in 1974 and spent her fellowship year traveling to Greece.
Cole began her work life as a story editor for the news magazine television show The Education of Mike McManus at what is now TVOntario. While on the job she met author and Maclean's editor Peter C. Newman who, in 1976, made her his principal researcher for his book The Bronfman Dynasty (McClelland & Stewart). While working for Newman, Cole helped found the Broadside Collective, which produced a monthly feminist magazine from 1978 to 1988. Access to all issues can be found at the Women's Archives in Ottawa. During this period, Cole began her work on pornography, developing a feminist analysis that paved the way for her upcoming books.
Cole was a member of Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW), when the movie Snuff, a pornographic flick bragging that it featured the murder of a woman as a sexual spectacle, came to Toronto in 1978. She spoke at a rally outside Cinema 2000, where the film was showing, urging demonstrators to head to the theatre to shut it down and to set off a series of demonstrations outside the theatre. WAVAW went on to focus on several actions, including erecting an alternative cenotaph on Remembrance Day acknowledging “Every Woman Raped In Every War.”
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