Wednesday Martin

Martin was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan{{cite news |title=At Lunch With the Author Who Introduced the Upper East Side 'Wife Bonus' |author=Annie Lowrey |url=http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/05/wednesday-martin-primates-of-park-avenue.html |work=New York |date=June 2, 2015 |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=June 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150624172051/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/05/wednesday-martin-primates-of-park-avenue.html |url-status=live }} and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.{{cite news |title=Primates of Park Avenue: Wednesday Martin says we should feel sorry for the pampered, privileged women of New York's Upper East Side |author=Andrew Buncombe |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/primates-of-park-avenue-wednesday-martin-says-we-should-feel-sorry-for-the-pampered-privileged-women-of-new-yorks-upper-east-side-10324564.html |work=The Independent |date=June 16, 2015 |access-date=August 3, 2015 |archive-date=July 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711043917/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/primates-of-park-avenue-wednesday-martin-says-we-should-feel-sorry-for-the-pampered-privileged-women-of-new-yorks-upper-east-side-10324564.html |url-status=live }} She did her undergraduate work at the University of Michigan where she studied anthropology,{{cite news |title=A Cultural Study of the Ladies who Lunch |author=Rachel Epstein |url=http://dujour.com/culture/wednesday-martin-primates-of-park-avenue-interview/ |work=DuJour Magazine |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=July 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150727120856/http://dujour.com/culture/wednesday-martin-primates-of-park-avenue-interview/ |url-status=live }} and she received a doctorate in comparative literature and cultural studies from Yale University. Her doctoral work examined early psychoanalysis and anthropology.{{cite news |title=Wednesday Martin's Primates of Fifth Avenue |author=Alfred Brophy |url=http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2015/05/wednesday-martins-primates-of-fifth-avenue.html |work=The Faculty Lounge |date=May 26, 2015 |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=June 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611100522/http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2015/05/wednesday-martins-primates-of-fifth-avenue.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Wednesday Martin Is the Margaret Mead of the .1% |author=Jesse Kornbluth |url=http://observer.com/2015/05/wednesday-martin-is-the-margaret-mead-of-the-1/#ixzz3fK9jT3qb |work=The Observer |date=May 28, 2015 |access-date=July 8, 2015 |archive-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707134435/http://observer.com/2015/05/wednesday-martin-is-the-margaret-mead-of-the-1/#ixzz3fK9jT3qb |url-status=live }}

Martin has taught literature and cultural studies at Yale, The New School, and Baruch College.{{cite web |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/wednesday-martin-phd |title=Wednesday Martin Ph.D. |work=psychologytoday.com |publisher=Psychology Today |access-date=August 4, 2015 |archive-date=March 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302191008/https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/contributors/wednesday-martin-phd |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite news |title=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 |author=Heather Havrilesky |url=http://www.salon.com/2009/05/20/havrilesky_stepmonster/ |work=Salon |date=May 20, 2009 |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=July 9, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709012213/http://www.salon.com/2009/05/20/havrilesky_stepmonster/ |url-status=live }}

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.{{cite news |title=Rich Housewives Go Under The Microscope In 'Primates Of Park Avenue' |url=https://www.npr.org/2015/05/31/410250338/rich-housewives-go-under-the-microscope-in-primates-of-park-avenue |work=NPR |date=May 31, 2015 |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707234856/http://www.npr.org/2015/05/31/410250338/rich-housewives-go-under-the-microscope-in-primates-of-park-avenue |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Why the Wealthy Women of New York's Upper East Side Are So Completely Fascinating |author=Jill Filipovic |url=http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a41428/primates-of-park-avenue-wednesday-martin-interview/ |work=Cosmopolitan |date=June 4, 2015 |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=July 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150722024142/http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a41428/primates-of-park-avenue-wednesday-martin-interview/ |url-status=live }} Simon & Schuster released the book in June 2015.{{cite news |title=Publisher to Put Asterisk on 'Primates of Park Avenue' |author=Hiroko Tabuchi |author-link=Hiroko Tabuchi |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/business/media/publisher-to-put-asterisk-on-primates-of-park-avenue.html?gwh=FCA940DFAAB05C660A26BB11C65432C8&gwt=pay&_r=0 |work=The New York Times |date=June 7, 2015 |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=September 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919025205/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/business/media/publisher-to-put-asterisk-on-primates-of-park-avenue.html?gwh=FCA940DFAAB05C660A26BB11C65432C8&gwt=pay&_r=0 |url-status=live }}{{cite magazine|author=Belinda Luscombe|date=June 2, 2015|title=What We Can Learn From Insanely Rich Parents|magazine=Time|url=https://time.com/3903346/wife-bonus-primates-park-avenue/|access-date=August 6, 2015|archive-date=August 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150820051657/http://time.com/3903346/wife-bonus-primates-park-avenue/|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite news |title=A Conversation With Wednesday Martin, Author of Primates of Park Avenue |author=Jia Tolentino |author-link=Jia Tolentino |url=http://jezebel.com/a-conversation-with-wednesday-martin-author-of-primate-1708261654 |work=Jezebel |date=June 2, 2015 |access-date=August 10, 2015 |archive-date=October 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151007200222/http://jezebel.com/a-conversation-with-wednesday-martin-author-of-primate-1708261654 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=The $150,000 Purse And Other 'Wife Bonuses' |author=Gina Barreca |url=http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-barreca-pimates-park-avenue-0528-20150526-column.html |work=Hartford Courant |date=May 27, 2015 |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=July 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706074720/http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-barreca-pimates-park-avenue-0528-20150526-column.html |url-status=live }} Primates has been translated into nine languages, {{as of|2018|lc=y}}.{{cite news |title=Primates, scolding, and dismissive finger-wagging |author=Victor P. Corona |url=https://contexts.org/blog/primates-scolding-and-dismissive-finger-wagging/ |work=Contexts |date=June 11, 2016 |access-date=July 30, 2018 |quote=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 |archive-date=September 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919061720/https://contexts.org/blog/primates-scolding-and-dismissive-finger-wagging/ |url-status=live }}

In her book Untrue (2018), Martin focused on female sexuality and addressing untruths about women and sex.{{cite news |title='Untrue' By Wednesday Martin Will Challenge What You Think About Women & Sex — And The Cover Is Just As Revealing As The Book |author=Kerri Jarema |url=https://www.bustle.com/p/untrue-by-wednesday-martin-will-challenge-what-you-think-about-women-sex-the-cover-is-just-as-revealing-as-the-book-8798496 |work=Bustle |date=April 16, 2018 |access-date=July 20, 2018 |archive-date=September 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180919061811/https://www.bustle.com/p/untrue-by-wednesday-martin-will-challenge-what-you-think-about-women-sex-the-cover-is-just-as-revealing-as-the-book-8798496 |url-status=live }}

Martin has also written for Psychology Today,{{cite news |title=Deals, Divorce, Direction: Off-Label Uses for Psychoanalysis |author=Martin |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stepmonster/201507/deals-divorce-direction-label-uses-psychoanalysis |work=Psychology Today |date=July 16, 2015 |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=March 2, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230302191005/https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/stepmonster/201507/deals-divorce-direction-label-uses-psychoanalysis |url-status=live }} The Daily Telegraph,{{cite news |title=Banning the 'blended' family: why step-families will never be the same as first families |author=Martin |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/9820359/Banning-the-blended-family-why-step-families-will-never-be-the-same-as-first-families.html |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=January 23, 2013 |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=August 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150826094812/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/9820359/Banning-the-blended-family-why-step-families-will-never-be-the-same-as-first-families.html |url-status=live }} The New York Times, The Huffington Post,{{cite news |title=The Dad Effect: How Fatherhood Changes Men and Why We Need More Books about Fathers |author=Martin |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wednesday-martin/the-dad-effect-how-father_b_610676.html |work=Huffington Post |date=June 14, 2010 |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=May 22, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150522051639/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wednesday-martin/the-dad-effect-how-father_b_610676.html |url-status=live }} and The Atlantic.{{cite news |title=The Captivity of Motherhood |author=Martin |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/07/the-captivity-of-motherhood/398525/ |work=The Atlantic |date=July 15, 2015 |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716051043/http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/07/the-captivity-of-motherhood/398525/ |url-status=live }}

Martin is the author of the following books and ebooks:

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

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.{{cite news |title=Disney World vows action after report of wealthy hiring disabled to skip lines |author=Josh Levs |url=http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/15/us/disney-skipping-lines/ |work=CNN |date=May 15, 2013 |access-date=July 7, 2015 |archive-date=July 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723144754/http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/15/us/disney-skipping-lines/ |url-status=live }} 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.{{cite news |title=Poor Little Rich Women |author=Martin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/poor-little-rich-women.html?_r=0 |work=The New York Times |date=May 16, 2015 |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=June 23, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150623071603/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/poor-little-rich-women.html?_r=0 |url-status=live }} The article received coverage from numerous media outlets,{{cite news |title=Shocker: Upper East Side "Wife Bonus" Book Reportedly Filled With Lies |author=Ben Yakas |url=http://gothamist.com/2015/06/07/shocker_upper_east_side_wife_bonus.php |work=Gothamist |date=June 7, 2015 |access-date=July 7, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709111242/http://gothamist.com/2015/06/07/shocker_upper_east_side_wife_bonus.php |archive-date=July 9, 2015 }} 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.{{cite news |title=Do Stay-at-Home Moms Deserve a Salary? |author=Michelle Ruiz |url=http://www.vogue.com/13262329/stay-home-mom-salary-primates-of-park-ave/ |work=Vogue |date=May 21, 2015 |access-date=July 16, 2015 |archive-date=May 25, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150525033727/http://www.vogue.com/13262329/stay-home-mom-salary-primates-of-park-ave/ |url-status=live }} The New York Times characterized Martin's description of wife bonuses as "disputed".{{cite news|date=June 13, 2015|title=Primates of Times Square: A Case Study|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/public-editor/new-york-times-public-editor-margaret-sullivan-on-primates-of-park-avenue-coverage.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0|access-date=July 7, 2015|archive-date=June 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150617172042/http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/public-editor/new-york-times-public-editor-margaret-sullivan-on-primates-of-park-avenue-coverage.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=0|url-status=live}}

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.{{Cite news |last=Tabuchi |first=Hiroko |date=2015-06-07 |title=Publisher to Put Asterisk on 'Primates of Park Avenue' |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/08/business/media/publisher-to-put-asterisk-on-primates-of-park-avenue.html |access-date=2023-09-15 |issn=0362-4331}}

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.{{cite news| title =Shocker: Upper East Side "Wife Bonus" Book Reportedly Filled With Lies| quote =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.| newspaper =Gothamist| date =June 7, 2015| url =http://gothamist.com/2015/06/07/shocker_upper_east_side_wife_bonus.php| access-date =June 8, 2015| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150609220944/http://gothamist.com/2015/06/07/shocker_upper_east_side_wife_bonus.php| archive-date =June 9, 2015}}{{cite web|title=Joel Moser|url=https://sipa.columbia.edu/faculty/joel-moser|publisher=Columbia University|access-date=May 18, 2015|archive-date=June 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614001425/https://sipa.columbia.edu/faculty/joel-moser|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last1=Screws|first1=Nic|last2=Gordon|first2=Amanda|last3=Ankari|first3=Moti|title=Celebrity and Business Power Couples Pick the Perfect Valentine's Day Gifts|website=Bloomberg News|date=February 9, 2015 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-09/celebrity-power-couples-share-their-valentine-s-day-wish-lists|access-date=May 23, 2015|archive-date=May 1, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150501145150/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-09/celebrity-power-couples-share-their-valentine-s-day-wish-lists|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=http://www.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/joseph-martin.9137|title=Joseph Martin|work=lifestorynet.com|access-date=October 6, 2015|archive-date=June 13, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613224834/http://www.lifestorynet.com/obituaries/joseph-martin.9137|url-status=live}} She has two step-daughters, children of Moser's first marriage.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Wednesday}}

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