Helen Pluckrose

{{Infobox person

| name = Helen Pluckrose

| image = Helen Pluckrose on Rebel Wisdom.jpg

| caption = Pluckrose in 2019

| nationality = British

| education = University of East London (B.A.)
Queen Mary University of London (M.A.)

| occupation = Author, cultural writer

| known_for = Grievance studies affair

| notable_works = Cynical Theories (2020)

}}

Helen Pluckrose is a British author and cultural writer known for critiques of critical theory and social justice{{cite web |last1=PLUCKROSE |first1=Helen |title=What Do We Mean By Critical Social Justice |url=https://counterweightsupport.com/2021/02/17/what-do-we-mean-by-critical-social-justice/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605062230/https://counterweightsupport.com/2021/02/17/what-do-we-mean-by-critical-social-justice/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2023-06-05 |website=Wayback Machine |publisher=Counterweight |access-date=2025-01-01}} and promotion of liberal ethics, most notably in the grievance studies affair.{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/2018/10/15/17951492/grievance-studies-sokal-squared-hoax |title=The controversy around hoax studies in critical theory, explained|first= Zack |last=Beauchamp|website= Vox|date= 15 October 2018}}{{Cite news|last=Murray|first=Douglas|title=Cynical Theories by Helen Pluckrose & James Lindsay review – woke warriors are conquering academia|newspaper=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/cynical-theories-by-helen-pluckrose-james-lindsay-review-ccqc6jld0|access-date=2020-10-01|issn=0140-0460}}{{Cite web|date=2020-09-11|title=The destructive power of culture wars and how they put liberalism in retreat|url=https://www.crikey.com.au/2020/09/11/culture-wars-liberalism-retreat/|access-date=2020-10-01|website=Crikey}}{{Cite news|title=Tracing the dangerous rise and rise of woke warriors|date=12 September 2020|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/tracing-the-dangerous-rise-and-rise-of-woke-warriors/news-story/19b519e58d3393b35d6fccec8d9e4135|access-date=2020-10-01|author-link=Paul Kelly (journalist)|first=Paul |last=Kelly|work=The Australian}}{{subscription required}}

Education

Pluckrose completed a degree in English literature at the University of East London and a master's degree in early modern studies at Queen Mary University of London,{{Cite web|title=Helen Pluckrose – Battle of Ideas 2017|url=https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/2017/speaker/helen-pluckrose/|access-date=2020-09-06}} with a particular focus on "the ways in which medieval women negotiated the Christian narrative".{{cite news|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/the-problem-with-grievance-studies/news-story/674aefae465e3b26b9690f2997510d33|title=The problem with grievance studies|author=Helen Pluckrose|date=18 March 2019|work=The Australian}}{{subscription required}}

Career

= Social care =

From the age of 17 to 34, Pluckrose worked in social care mostly providing for the personal care needs of elderly people and those with physical and learning disabilities.{{cite web |title=Helen Pluckrose |url=https://www.iwf.org/people/helen-pluckrose/ |website=Independent Women's Forum |access-date=28 July 2022}}

= Grievance studies affair =

File:Thumbnail of video Academics expose corruption in Grievance Studies.jpg

Alongside James A. Lindsay and Peter Boghossian, Pluckrose was involved in the 2017–18 grievance studies affair (also referred to as "Sokal Squared" in reference to the 1996 Sokal affair), a project which saw the group submitting a number of bogus academic papers to peer-reviewed journals in cultural, gender, queer and race studies, to see if they would get published. The authors stated their goal as highlighting poor scholarship and eroding criteria in some academic fields, particularly those influenced by postmodern philosophy and critical theory.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/04/arts/academic-journals-hoax.html|title=Hoaxers Slip Breastaurants and Dog-Park Sex Into Journals|first=Jennifer |last=Schuessler|work=The New York Times|date=4 October 2018|access-date=27 October 2020}} Despite criticism of the exposé as a "hoax" and "coordinated attack from the right", Pluckrose and her colleagues describe themselves as "left-leaning liberals".{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/new-sokal-hoax/572212/ |title=What an Audacious Hoax Reveals About Academia|first= Yascha|last= Mounk|website=The Atlantic|date= 5 October 2018}}

=''Areo Magazine''=

From 2018 to 2021, Pluckrose was editor-in-chief of Areo Magazine, an opinion and analysis digital magazine exploring "a variety of perspectives compatible with broadly liberal and humanist values".{{cite web|url=https://www.chronicle.com/article/scholar-who-pulled-off-publishing-hoax-defends-it-papers-are-either-sound-or-they-arent/ |title=Scholar Who Pulled Off Publishing Hoax Defends It: 'Papers Are Either Sound or They Aren't' |first= Alexander C.|last= Kafka|website=The Chronicle of Higher Education|date= 5 October 2018}}{{Cite news|title='You can't cancel me'|first=Rosemary|last= Neill|date=10 September 2020|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/helen-pluckrose-fighting-against-the-fundamentalist-religion-of-identity-politics-and-cancel-culture/news-story/c5302053e9edcd2f6bd5ebe921bb8ff7|access-date=2020-10-01|work=The Australian}}{{subscription required}} She stepped down from this post in April 2021.{{cite web | title=Editorial Announcement| last=Pluckrose |first=Helen| website=Areo | date=April 6, 2021 | url=https://areomagazine.com/2021/04/06/editorial-announcement/ | access-date=August 7, 2021}}{{dead link|date=March 2025}}

= ''Cynical Theories'' =

In 2020, Pluckrose released a non-fiction book, Cynical Theories, co-authored with James A. Lindsay and published by Pitchstone Publishing.

= Counterweight =

Pluckrose founded Counterweight as a reaction to the growth of implicit bias training and other forms of what Pluckrose calls "critical social justice ideology" in the workplace.{{r|Diver}}

The group describes itself as a "non-partisan, grassroots movement advocating for liberal concepts of social justice".{{Cite web |title=Why Was Counterweight Formed |url=https://counterweightsupport.com/why-was-counterweight-formed/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605070752/https://counterweightsupport.com/why-was-counterweight-formed/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2023-06-05 |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Wayback Machine}}

Counterweight launched an online advice service in January 2021,{{Cite news |last=Ellery |first=Ben |title='Anti-woke helpline Counterweight flooded with calls' |publication-place=London |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/anti-woke-helpline-counterweight-flooded-with-calls-s3r2xg9kj |date=2021-01-30 |issn=0140-0460 |newspaper=The Times |url-access=limited}} which Pluckrose described as "Citizens Advice for the culture wars".{{r|Diver}}

Also labelled as an anti-woke helpline, Pluckrose claims that its main purpose was to cultivate dialogue and resolve conflicts.{{Cite news |last=Walden |first=Celia |date=February 17, 2021 |title=Why I started an anti-woke helpline |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/inside-counterweight-anti-woke-helpline-fighting-workplace-cancel/ |access-date=July 25, 2024 |work=The Telegraph}} The group published a video which, according to The Telegraph, argued that "woke" activism unfairly judges people by their gender, race and sex, and pledged to provide resources such as mental health support and "expert guidance".{{cite news |last1=Diver |first1=Tony |title='Citizens advice service' launches to help employees in woke workplaces |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/01/25/citizens-advice-service-launches-help-employees-woke-workplaces/ |work=The Telegraph |publication-place=London |date=25 January 2021 |issn=0307-1235 |url-access=limited}} Pluckrose ceased working for Counterweight in 2022 but continues to support the cause.{{Cite web |title=The Counterweight Team |url=https://counterweightsupport.com/the-counterweight-team/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601100328/https://counterweightsupport.com/the-counterweight-team/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2023-06-01 |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Wayback Machine |language=en-US}}

Counterweight closed in May 2023,{{Cite web |title=Important Announcement |url=https://counterweightsupport.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230519150044/https://counterweightsupport.com/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=2023-05-19 |access-date=2025-01-01 |website=Wayback Machine |language=en-US}} directing inquiries to other "very capable organisations", including the Institute for Liberal Values. Its original website now has new owners.

= ''The Counterweight Handbook'' =

In 2024, Pluckrose published The Counterweight Handbook,{{cite book | last=Pluckrose |first=Helen |date=2024-06-06 |title= The Counterweight Handbook|url=https://swiftpress.com/book/the-counterweight-handbook/ |publisher=Swift Press |isbn=9781800751088}} subtitled "Principal Strategies for Surviving and Defeating Social Justice Ideology - at Work, in Schools and Beyond". The book is published by Swift Press.