Germaine Greer (born January 29, 1939) is a writer, broadcaster and academic, and is considered by many to be one of the most significant feminist voices of the 20th century.

She was born in Melbourne, Australia and currently splits her time between her various residences in the UK, Tuscany and on her property in northern New South Wales.

After education at the Star of the Sea College in Gardenvale, Melbourne, and then winning a Teacher’s College scholarship, Germaine Greer enrolled at University of Melbourne in 1956. She graduated with a BA honors from Melbourne University in 1958.

In 1959 she moved to Sydney and was involved in the Sydney Push, where she came into contact with journalist Lillian Roxon. She lectured at University of Sydney and gained an MA with 1st class honors from Sydney in 1963.

In 1964 she went to University of Cambridge in England on a Commonwealth Scholarship. She received a PhD from Cambridge in 1968.

She was a contributor to the 1960s underground London-based OZ magazine in the guise of "Dr G".

Her first book The Female Eunuch (ISBN 0007161220) was published in 1970 and details what Greer characterised as the cultural, social and psychological deprivation inflicted on women in an overbearingly male-orientated hegemony, although these days she admits her views have softened slightly.

Greer now lectures at Newnham, Cambridge, having been, for several years, Professor of English and Comparative Studies at University of Warwick.

Since at least the late 1950's Germaine Greer has identified herself with the philosophy of anarchism, and continues to do so. Her regular public comments on social issues generates controversy and publicity, successfully raising for discussion topics previously given little public commentary or debate.

In 1996, Greer unsuccessfully opposed the election of a transsexual woman to a fellowship at Newnham, an all-female institution, on the grounds that she was legally a man.

In 2001 Germaine Greer attracted publicity for a treaty with Aboriginal Australia.

In 2003 she wrote The Boy, ISBN 050023809X, a richly illustrated book about the beauty of teenage boys (also published under the name The Beautiful Boy).

In 2004 Australian Prime Minister John Howard called her "elitist" and "condescending" after she criticized Australians as "too relaxed to give a damn."

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about: Germaine Greer

• Germaine Greer - feminist, anarchist http://www.takver.com/history/sydney/greer.htm