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Lauren Shields

  • Bio
  • Book
  • Articles
  • Media Appearances
  • Nonprofit Work
  • Contact
  • About Me

    Activist. Comedian. Somehow atrocious at mini-golf.

    As a kid there were two things I promised myself I would never be, because they looked incredibly boring: a teacher, and a writer. I am both, and they are not. I believe in the power of speaking the truth in love, and if that doesn't work, speaking the truth a lot louder. I want to leave the world better than I found it.
  • Book

    All I said was, "This doesn't feel great"

    As a first-year seminary student, I was inspired by Muslim women who chose to cover. They said that for them, the hijab was a feminist statement. I designed an experiment: for nine months, I covered my hair, arms and legs and stopped wearing makeup. The result changed the way I viewed beauty, power, and faith.

     

    I summarized the Modesty Experiment in Salon. It launched my career. The Beauty Suit (Beacon Press), the book that was born from that piece, is about my nine month modesty experiment and the limits of Kardashian-esque hotness as "empowerment." (Hint: it's just capitalism, rebranded to look like feminism.)

     

    Find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and IndieBound.

  • Articles

    A mouthy Midwesterner walks into a CMS

    You can find my latest work on my Substack, Constitutionally Midwestern.

     

    Some published pieces I'm really proud of:

    • Salon, Dressing Modestly, for Feminism and Faith

    • Medium, Dear Fellow White People: Go See Black Panther

    • Emory Business, From Bean to Cup: Goizueta Balances the Scale of Financial Equity for Female Coffee Farmers

     

    • Coverage

      Protip: Don't read the comments

      Articles:

      • The New York Times, Piling on Clothes to Lay Herself Bare

      • Beacon Broadside, My Closet Tried to Hold Me Hostage But We’re Cool Now: What Lauren Shields’ “The Beauty Suit” Taught Me About Different Kinds of ‘Modesty’

      • Brown Girl Magazine, ‘I Cover My Hair—and I’m a Feminist’: An Interview with Author Lauren Shields

      Interviews:
      • "Sunday Morning: 'Lauren Shields: A Nine-Month Experiment in Modesty,'" a great live interview with RNZ (Radio New Zealand)'s Jim Mora

      • The Beauty Suit on MeaningofLife.tv

      • Voices, a podcast about progressive faith

      • Makin It Through Comedy: A podcast from Stanford's KZSU 90.1FM, on what it's like to be a working comedian in the Bay Area

       

      • Nonprofit Content Creation

        Microsoft Paint + academia = some pretty cool work

        RealityTeam

        Writing & drawing

        For a short time, I got to use my writing skills against the wave of disinformation that floods the internet. (It was only short because nonprofit work is fickle.) You can see some of my work here and here.
         
        I also remembered how much I liked to use humor to talk about difficult topics. I created Lou the Lizard, the embodiment of the "lizard brain" part of all of us that routinely gets tricked by nonsense.

        The Propwatch Project

        Editing & journalism

        I was able to work on this innovative site in 2020, giving me opportunities for on-camera journalism. You can see some of my interviews with disinfo experts here and here.
      • Media Contact

        For interviews and bookings, use this contact form.

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