Helen Pluckrose is a British author and cultural writer known for critiques of critical theory and social justice[1] and promotion of liberal ethics, most notably in the grievance studies affair.

[8] 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.

[17] 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".

In 2024, Pluckrose published The Counterweight Handbook[20], subtitled "Principal Strategies for Surviving and Defeating Social Justice Ideology - at Work, in Schools and Beyond".