Amanda Marcotte

Born in El Paso, Texas, Marcotte (rhymes with far-caught, according to her){{Cite web |title=Sorry, Fox Business Network, but feminists shouldn't see Nancy Reagan as a 'role model' |first=Amanda |last=Marcotte |date=March 8, 2016 |work=Salon |url= https://www.salon.com/2016/03/08/sorry_fox_business_network_but_feminists_shouldnt_see_nancy_reagan_as_a_role_model/}} was raised in the small town of Alpine, Texas.{{cite web |title=Book details: Get opinionated: A Progressive's Guide to Finding Your Voice (and Taking a Little Action) |url= http://www.sealpress.com/book.php?isbn=9781580053020 |work=SealPress.com |publisher=Seal Press |access-date=May 31, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101128162627/http://sealpress.com/book.php?isbn=9781580053020 |archive-date=November 28, 2010}} She has written that her parents divorced when she was nine years old.{{Cite magazine |last1=Thomas |first1=June |last2=Dehesdin |first2=Cecile |last3=Grose |first3=Jessica |last4=Marcotte |first4=Amanda |last5=Bazelon |first5=Emily |last6=Fortini |first6=Amanda |last7=Tarlin |first7=Ellen |last8=Hulbert |first8=Ann |last9=Dell'Antonia |first9=K. J. |last10=Rogers |first10=Jenny |last11=Rosin |first11=Hanna |title=When Did You Realize Your Mom Was More Than Just 'Mom'? |work=Slate |department="The XX Factor" dept. |date=May 6, 2010 |url= https://slate.com/human-interest/2010/05/when-did-you-realize-your-mom-was-more-than-just-mom.html}} This department later became the Double X website, then folded back into Slate as the podcast The Waves. She graduated {{lang|la|summa cum laude}} from St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, with an BA degree in English literature. Around 2004, she began writing for the liberal blog Pandagon, then later for Slate and The Guardian.{{cite web |title=Amanda Marcotte at Slate |work=Double X |url= http://www.doublex.com/users/amanda-marcotte |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090923212214/http://www.doublex.com/users/amanda-marcotte |archive-date=September 23, 2009}} This was a Slate spin-off site from 2009–2013.{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/profile/amanda-marcotte |location=London |work=The Guardian |first=Amanda |last=Marcotte |title=Amanda Marcotte |date=July 1, 2009}}

In 2004, Marcotte won a Koufax Award from Washington Monthly for her Mouse Words blog.{{cite web |last=Drum |first=Kevin |title=Koufax Awards |work=Washington Monthly |date=February 23, 2005 |url= http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_02/005713.php |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160402185654/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_02/005713.php |archive-date=April 2, 2016}}

Time magazine has called Marcotte "an outspoken voice of the left", writing, "there is a welcome wonkishness to Marcotte, who, unlike some star bloggers, is not afraid to parse policy with her readers". Time also called her blogging "provocative and profanity-laced".{{cite magazine |last=Calabresi |first=Massimo |title=Bloggers on the Bus |work=Time |date=February 7, 2007 |url= http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1587018,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070209074026/http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1587018,00.html |archive-date=February 9, 2007}}

In early 2007, Marcotte made several controversial statements on her blog, including criticism of the men falsely accused in the Duke lacrosse case, using vulgar language to refer to Catholic doctrine on the Virgin birth of Jesus, and describing the Catholic Church's opposition to birth control as motivated by a desire to force women to "bear more tithing Catholics".{{cite news |last=Broder |first=John M. |title=Edwards's Bloggers Cross the Line, Critic Says |date=February 7, 2007 |work=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/us/politics/07edwards.html |access-date=March 11, 2016}}{{cite news |title=Catholic group calls on Edwards to fire blogging 'bigots' |date=February 7, 2007 |work=CNN |url= http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/07/edwards.bloggers/index.html?iref=allsearch}}{{cite news |last=Kurtz |first=Howard |title=John Edwards Sticks with Controversial Bloggers |date=February 9, 2007 |work=The Washington Post |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020802263.html}}

On January 30, 2007, John Edwards's 2008 presidential campaign hired Marcotte as its blogmaster, saying that while Edwards was "personally offended" by some of Marcotte's remarks about the Catholic Church, her job as their blogmaster was secure.{{cite news |last=Moran |first=Terry |title=Does John Edwards Condone Hate Speech? |department="Pushback" blog |date=February 6, 2007 |work=ABC News |url= http://blogs.abcnews.com/terrymoran/2007/02/does_john_edwar.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070629134833/http://blogs.abcnews.com/terrymoran/2007/02/does_john_edwar.html |archive-date=June 29, 2007 |quote=A bit of a tempest is brewing over the strident and profanity-laced writings of John Edwards' official campaign 'blogmaster,' Amanda Marcotte.}}Multiple additional sources:

• {{cite web |last=Edwards |first=John |author-link=John Edwards |date=February 8, 2007 |title=Statement on Campaign Bloggers |work=John Edwards Campaign Blog |url= http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/2/8/113651/4503 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070220043125/http://blog.johnedwards.com/story/2007/2/8/113651/4503 |archive-date=February 20, 2007}}
• {{cite news |last=Pickler |first=Nedra |author-link=Nedra Pickler |date=February 8, 2007 |title=Edwards to Retain Embattled Bloggers |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020800878.html |access-date=May 4, 2007 |work=The Washington Post |publisher=Associated Press}}
• {{cite news |last=Broder |first=John M. |date=February 9, 2007 |title=Edwards Learns Blogs Can Cut 2 Ways |work=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/09/us/politics/09bloggers.html?ex=1328677200&en=bc555f23c328d4ac&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss%E2%80%9D |access-date=May 4, 2007}}
• {{cite news |last1=Koppelman |first1=Alex Koppelman |last2=Traister |first2=Rebecca |date=February 7, 2007 |title=Edwards campaign fires bloggers |work=Salon |url= http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2007/02/07/edwards_bloggers |access-date=August 31, 2011 |quote=The right-wing blogosphere has gotten its scalps .... [Marcotte and McEwan] had come under fire from right-wing bloggers for statements they had previously made on their respective blogs.}}
• {{cite news |last=Beyerstein |first=Lindsay |date=February 26, 2007 |title=Why I refused to blog for Edwards |work=Salon |url= http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2007/02/26/beyerstein |access-date=August 31, 2011 |quote=Bill Donohue of the Catholic League and the right-wing blogosphere aligned for an all-out assault on Amanda. If it had just been the right-wing bloggers gunning for Amanda, the problem would have been short-lived. ... What Bob didn't seem to realize is that the right-wing blogosphere was going to try to get Edwards' bloggers fired no matter what.}}
• {{cite news |last=Parker |first=Jennifer |date=February 8, 2007 |title=Edwards Reprimands Campaign Bloggers |work=ABC News |url= https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2007/02/edwards_reprima/ |access-date=August 31, 2011 |quote=Salon reported that the women had come under intense scrutiny from right-wing bloggers for statements they had previously made on their respective blogs.}}
• {{cite news |last=Tapper |first=Jake |date=February 13, 2007 |title=Edwards' Campaign Blogger Quits Amid Controversy |work=ABC News |url= https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=2871447&page=1 |access-date=August 31, 2011 |quote=On the Internet, outrage erupted. ... But that did not quell the Internet storm as Marcotte continued to write in her no-holds-barred style.}}
• {{cite magazine |last=Lopez |first=Kathryn Jean |author-link=Kathryn Jean Lopez |title=Unholy Hire |work=National Review |date=February 6, 2007 |url= http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjYzN2FiZjFmOGIwZDcyZDQ1NzM1MDU5OGM2MzljZTE= |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070807161206/http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjYzN2FiZjFmOGIwZDcyZDQ1NzM1MDU5OGM2MzljZTE%3D |archive-date=August 7, 2007}}

Following criticism, Marcotte announced her resignation from the Edwards campaign. In an article for Salon a few days later, she said her resignation was a result of being targeted by the "right-wing smear machine".{{cite news |last=Marcotte |first=Amanda |date=February 16, 2007 |title=Why I had to quit the John Edwards campaign |url= http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/02/16/marcotte |access-date=August 31, 2011 |work=Salon}}

Marcotte has given presentations at Skepticon, SXSW, Women in Secularism 2, and SkepchickCon. She was formerly on the speakers' bureau of the Secular Student Alliance.{{cite web |title=Amanda Marcotte |work=SecularStudents.org |publisher=Secular Student Alliance |date=2013 |url= http://secularstudents.org/speakers/AmandaMarcotte |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131003212802/https://www.secularstudents.org/speakers/AmandaMarcotte |archive-date=October 3, 2013}}{{cite web |url= http://lanyrd.com/profile/amandamarcotte/ |title=Amanda Marcotte Profile |access-date=June 9, 2013}}{{cite web |title=SkepchickCON at CONvergence |publisher=Skepchick.org |url= http://events.skepchick.org/skepchickcon-2013/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130723055343/http://events.skepchick.org/skepchickcon-2013 |archive-date=July 23, 2013}}

Marcotte is the author of It's a Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide to Politically Inhospitable Environments (2008), Get Opinionated (2010), and Troll Nation: How the Right Became Trump-worshipping Monsters Set on Rat-f*cking Liberals, America, and Truth Itself (2018).{{cite web |last=Jones |first=Kimberley |title='Jungle' Boogie |url= https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/books/2008-05-08/622135/ |work=The Austin Chronicle}} The illustrations of It's a Jungle Out There, featuring a blonde woman in a tropical forest battling various mobs of brown-skinned people, were widely criticized as racist, and Marcotte and publisher Seal Press issued an apology; Seal Press also stated any future print runs of the book would have different illustrations. Previously, in 2007, a possible cover for the book with a "King Kong-like ape-ravishing-white-woman image" had been dropped.{{Cite web |url= https://www.theroot.com/the-jungle-book-1790899895 |title=The Jungle Book |first=Kate |last=Tuttle |date=June 3, 2008 |work=The Root}}

As of 2021, Marcotte writes full-time for Salon; her stories are often republished and syndicated through partner sites including Pandagon successor Raw Story, {{cite web |title=Stories by Amanda Marcotte |access-date=March 9, 2025 |work=Raw Story |url= https://www.rawstory.com/u/amanda_marcotte/}} and at Alternet.{{cite web |title=Amanda Marcotte |access-date=April 3, 2020 |url= https://www.alternet.org/author/amanda-marcotte/ |work=Alternet}}

Marcotte moved to Philadelphia in 2018.{{Cite web |last=Marcotte |first=Amanda |title=Thank you, Gritty, for rallying with us to save our democracy |date=November 26, 2020 |work=Salon |url= https://www.salon.com/2020/11/26/thank-you-gritty-for-rallying-with-us-to-save-our-democracy/}}

In 2019, she wrote that she had "been a pescatarian for 16 or 17 years".{{Cite web |last=Marcotte |first=Amanda |title=Is the Impossible Burger a threat to vegetarianism? |date=June 9, 2019 |work=Salon |url= https://www.salon.com/2019/06/09/is-the-impossible-burger-a-threat-to-vegetarianism/}}

Her 2010 book Get Opinionated indicated her partner's name is Marc Faletti; in 2024, she said that he "owns a record store called Latchkey in Philadelphia", and that they have three cats.{{Cite web |last=Marcotte |first=Amanda |title=Exclusive: Doug Emhoff bought records at my boyfriend's store |date=September 10, 2024 |work=Salon |url= https://www.salon.com/2024/09/10/exclusive-doug-emhoff-makes-a-pre-debate-pitstop-at-my-boyfriends-philadelphia-record-store/}}{{Cite web |last1=Marcotte |first1=Amanda |last2=Stromer-Galley |first2=Jennifer |interviewer-last=Waldman |interviewer-first=Paul |title=Meme War! |work=The Cross Section |date=September 3, 2024 |via=Substack |url= https://paulwaldman.substack.com/p/meme-war}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.slate.com/authors.amanda_marcotte.html Marcotte's author page] at Slate
• [https://www.rawstory.com/2008/05/pandagon-about_amanda/ Marcotte's author page] at Raw Story (formerly Pandagon)

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