Wednesday Martin

Wednesday Martin
BornWendy K. Martin
1965 or 1966 (age 58–59)[1]
Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.
Occupation
LanguageEnglish
Alma materUniversity of Michigan
Yale University
Period1995–present
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

Wendy "Wednesday" Martin[2][3][4] is an American author and cultural critic[2] who writes and comments on parenting, step-parenting, female sexuality, motherhood, and popular culture.[5][6] She has written several books and for The New York Times, The Atlantic, Psychology Today, The Huffington Post, Harper's Bazaar,[7] and The Daily Telegraph.

Early life and education

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Martin was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan[8] and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.[9] She did her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan where she studied anthropology,[8][10] and she received a doctorate in comparative literature and cultural studies from Yale University. Her doctoral work examined early psychoanalysis and anthropology.[11][12]

Work

[edit]

Martin has taught literature and cultural studies at Yale, The New School, and Baruch College.[13][14]

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.[15][16]

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.[16][17] Simon & Schuster released the book in June 2015.[18][19] 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.[13][16][20] Primates has been translated into nine languages, as of 2018.[21]

In her book Untrue (2018), Martin focused on female sexuality and addressing untruths about women and sex.[22]

Martin has also written for Psychology Today,[23] The Daily Telegraph,[24] The New York Times,[25] The Huffington Post,[26] and The Atlantic.[27]

Publications

[edit]

Martin is the author of the following books and ebooks:

  • Martin, Wednesday (1995). Marlene Dietrich. New York: Chelsea House Publ. ISBN 0-7910-2881-X.
  • Martin, Wednesday (2009). Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel and Act the Way We Do. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-618-75819-7.
  • Martin, Wednesday (2015). Primates of Park Avenue: a memoir (First Simon & Schuster hardcover ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-6271-5.
  • Martin, Wednesday (2018). Untrue: Why Nearly Everything We Believe About Women, Lust, and Infidelity is Wrong and How the New Science Can Set Us Free. New York/Boston/London: Little, Brown Spark. ISBN 978-0-316-46361-4.
  • Martin, Wednesday (2018). Boyfriends of Dorothy. Amazon Original Stories. ASIN B078XB11K1.
  • Martin, Wednesday (2018). The Button. Amazon Original Stories. ASIN B07DNQVCPR.

Reception

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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.[28] 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.[25] The article received coverage from numerous media outlets,[29] 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.[19][30] The New York Times characterized Martin's description of wife bonuses as "disputed".[31]

In 2015, the New York Post claimed to have found multiple factual discrepancies with Martin's memoir Primates of Park Avenue. In response, Simon & Schuster promised to add a note by Martin to subsequent editions of the book, clarifying that some chronologies and details were changed.[32]

Personal life

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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.[33][34][35][36] She has two step-daughters, children of Moser's first marriage.[15]

References

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  1. ^ La Ferla, Ruth (September 15, 2018). "Wednesday Martin Dares to Call Her New Book 'Untrue'". New York Times. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2019.
  2. ^ a b Karen Heller (July 14, 2015). "The harried tale of 'Primates of Park Avenue'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  3. ^ Annie Lowrey (June 2015). "At Lunch With the Author Who Introduced the Upper East Side 'Wife Bonus'". New York. Archived from the original on June 7, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015. She grew up as Wendy Martin...
  4. ^ Gina Barreca (May 27, 2015). "The $150,000 Purse And Other 'Wife Bonuses'". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2015. The author "Wednesday" Martin (her real name is Wendy, but I guess she liked the Addams Family)...
  5. ^ Jeff Rossen and Josh Davis (May 31, 2013). "Undercover at Disney:Deplorable scheme to skip lines". Today. Archived from the original on August 15, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  6. ^ Emily Jane Fox (May 31, 2013). "Here's how much these moms spend to look good". CNN. Archived from the original on July 18, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  7. ^ Martin (July 28, 2015). "When it comes to promiscuity, are women the new men?". Harper's Bazaar. Archived from the original on August 24, 2015. Retrieved August 26, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Annie Lowrey (June 2, 2015). "At Lunch With the Author Who Introduced the Upper East Side 'Wife Bonus'". New York. Archived from the original on June 24, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  9. ^ 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. Archived from the original on July 11, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2015.
  10. ^ Rachel Epstein. "A Cultural Study of the Ladies who Lunch". DuJour Magazine. Archived from the original on July 27, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  11. ^ Alfred Brophy (May 26, 2015). "Wednesday Martin's Primates of Fifth Avenue". The Faculty Lounge. Archived from the original on June 11, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  12. ^ Jesse Kornbluth (May 28, 2015). "Wednesday Martin Is the Margaret Mead of the .1%". The Observer. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2015.
  13. ^ a b Jia Tolentino (June 2, 2015). "A Conversation With Wednesday Martin, Author of Primates of Park Avenue". Jezebel. Archived from the original on October 7, 2015. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  14. ^ "Wednesday Martin Ph.D." psychologytoday.com. Psychology Today. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved August 4, 2015.
  15. ^ a b 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. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  16. ^ a b c "Rich Housewives Go Under The Microscope In 'Primates Of Park Avenue'". NPR. May 31, 2015. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  17. ^ Jill Filipovic (June 4, 2015). "Why the Wealthy Women of New York's Upper East Side Are So Completely Fascinating". Cosmopolitan. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  18. ^ Hiroko Tabuchi (June 7, 2015). "Publisher to Put Asterisk on 'Primates of Park Avenue'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  19. ^ a b Belinda Luscombe (June 2, 2015). "What We Can Learn From Insanely Rich Parents". Time. Archived from the original on August 20, 2015. Retrieved August 6, 2015.
  20. ^ Gina Barreca (May 27, 2015). "The $150,000 Purse And Other 'Wife Bonuses'". Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  21. ^ Victor P. Corona (June 11, 2016). "Primates, scolding, and dismissive finger-wagging". Contexts. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. 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
  22. ^ 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. Archived from the original on September 19, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  23. ^ Martin (July 16, 2015). "Deals, Divorce, Direction: Off-Label Uses for Psychoanalysis". Psychology Today. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  24. ^ Martin (January 23, 2013). "Banning the 'blended' family: why step-families will never be the same as first families". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on August 26, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  25. ^ a b Martin (May 16, 2015). "Poor Little Rich Women". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  26. ^ Martin (June 14, 2010). "The Dad Effect: How Fatherhood Changes Men and Why We Need More Books about Fathers". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  27. ^ Martin (July 15, 2015). "The Captivity of Motherhood". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on July 16, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  28. ^ Josh Levs (May 15, 2013). "Disney World vows action after report of wealthy hiring disabled to skip lines". CNN. Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  29. ^ 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.
  30. ^ Michelle Ruiz (May 21, 2015). "Do Stay-at-Home Moms Deserve a Salary?". Vogue. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved July 16, 2015.
  31. ^ "Primates of Times Square: A Case Study". The New York Times. June 13, 2015. Archived from the original on June 17, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2015.
  32. ^ Tabuchi, Hiroko (June 7, 2015). "Publisher to Put Asterisk on 'Primates of Park Avenue'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 15, 2023.
  33. ^ "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.
  34. ^ "Joel Moser". Columbia University. Archived from the original on June 14, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  35. ^ Screws, Nic; Gordon, Amanda; Ankari, Moti (February 9, 2015). "Celebrity and Business Power Couples Pick the Perfect Valentine's Day Gifts". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on May 1, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  36. ^ "Joseph Martin". lifestorynet.com. Archived from the original on June 13, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
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