Claire Lehmann (née Jensen; born 18 July 1985) is an Australian journalist, publisher, and the founding editor of Quillette.
Early life and family
Lehmann is the daughter of a former teacher and a speech pathologist who was raised in Adelaide, South Australia. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology and English from the University of Adelaide with first-class honours in 2010. Lehmann was then a graduate student in psychology, but dropped out after having a child. She is married and has two children. She is the daughter-in-law of the poet Geoffrey Lehmann.
Career
Lehmann founded the online magazine Quillette in October 2015. According to the newspaper The Australian, Lehmann's story about the controversy surrounding Google engineer James Damore precipitated the venture's success.
Lehmann has contributed to publications including The Guardian, Scientific American, Tablet, and ABC News. She is a columnist at The Australian.
Bari Weiss regards Lehmann as one of the leaders of the so-called "intellectual dark web". Lehmann is seen as part of the intellectual dark web (IDW) due to publishing Quillette which Politico has referred to as "the unofficial digest of the IDW" which "prides itself on publishing 'dangerous' ideas other outlets won't touch", and criticising "what they see as left-wing orthodoxy".
The Sydney Morning Herald named Lehmann in their "Ten Aussies who shook the world in tech and media in 2018" citing that her online magazine, Quillette, has "attracted as many as 2 million followers a month, [and] is starting to gain significant traction in tech and libertarian circles in the US".
Criticism
In 2021, Lehmann was widely criticized when she falsely accused African American athlete Florence Griffith Joyner of having used steroids. Despite a lack of evidence, she made similar accusations against other African American female athletes.
References
External links
- Official website
