Gloria Steinem: An icon of American feminism

Gloria Steinem emerged as a defining figure in American feminism, her career spanning numerous roles that reshaped opportunities for generations of women. Known for her signature aviator sunglasses and long, blonde‑streaked hair—once considered a rebellious statement in the 1970s—she became an internationally recognized activist in the fight for gender equality. She advocated for the legalization of abortion, same‑sex marriage, and equal pay for women, while opposing the death penalty and female genital mutilation. Her activism drew backlash from both men and women, including harassment that ranged from vulgar to intimidating. Born on 25 March 1934 in Toledo, Ohio, Steinem’s early life was far from easy. Her father, Leo Steinem, worked as a traveling salesman; she, her mother Ruth, and older sister Susanne lived in a caravan, crisscrossing the country. When Leo abandoned the family and moved to California while Steinem was ten, she assumed responsibility for her mother, who suffered from long‑term mental illness and experienced terrifying hallucinations. Consequently, Steinem did not attend school full‑time until she was twelve. She later reflected that she never wanted children because she had already cared for one—her mother. In the late 1950s she traveled to India on a research scholarship, spending two years in various roles, including assisting colonial women in organizing non‑violent protests against government policies, which sparked her interest in grassroots activism. After leaving India, Steinem moved to New York City in the early 1960s to begin her career as a freelance writer, entering newsrooms still dominated by men and finding it difficult to secure hard‑hitting assignments. Her breakthrough arrived in 1963 when she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny cocktail waitress and wrote “A Bunny’s Tale,” an exposé for Show magazine detailing the seedy, sexist world of Hugh Hefner’s empire. As soon as she arrived for the interview, a security guard called out, “Here bunny, bunny, bunny.” Using the alias Marie, she misrepresented her age—telling Playboy she was 24 when she was actually 28. Steinem revealed the underpaid existence of a Bunny and the physical strain of wearing high heels and tight corsets for hours. Despite the ensuing fame—and infamy—she continued to struggle to be taken seriously by editors. Although the Playboy piece helped secure assignments for the New York Times and New York Magazine, those pieces often focused on topics such as ladies’ stockings and the latest hairstyles. She remarked to the New York Times in 2016, “To this time erstwhile radical don't similar maine they present maine arsenic a erstwhile Bunny, arsenic a put‑down,” adding, “On the different hand, I did amended the moving conditions for those women.” Undeterred, by 1968 Steinem was a columnist for New York Magazine, concentrating on progressive social issues and women’s rights. Her article “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation” brought her national fame, positioning her as the face of the U.S. feminist movement throughout the 1970s. She recalled to Rachel Cooke for The Guardian in 2011, “I was the lone woman, and aft I wrote an termination article, my [male] friends determination said to me: 'Don't get progressive with these brainsick women. You've worked hard to be taken seriously,'” prompting her to take matters into her own hands. In 1972 she launched Ms. magazine with a group of feminist activists. It became the first all‑female‑founded and‑operated periodical, intended as an alternative to conventional women’s magazines that typically centered on housekeeping and fashion. Critics—primarily men—were quick to dismiss it. News presenter Harry Reasoner predicted it would last only six months “before they tally retired of things to say.” The inaugural issue sold out within a week, generating 26,000 subscribers; the magazine continues publication today. In 1978 Steinem authored one of Ms. magazine’s most notorious and widely read essays, “If Men Could Menstruate.” Her satirical examination of how power, political, and economic structures might differ if men experienced menstruation remains referenced in discussions of gender roles. By the end of her career, Steinem had become a prolific, award‑winning author, producing numerous books—including her memoirs, a biography of Marilyn Monroe, and a collection of her celebrated quotations in the wryly titled work, “The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off.” Abortion‑rights campaigner Although Steinem is today regarded as one of the world’s best‑known feminist activists, she arrived at advocacy relatively late in life, during her thirties. At an abortion‑consciousness rally in 1969, where women shared their experiences of terminating pregnancies, Steinem was encouraged to recount her own story. The termination had occurred years earlier in London when she was 22, shortly before her departure for India. At that time abortion was illegal in the United Kingdom except when a woman’s physical or mental health was endangered. The physician who performed the procedure took a considerable risk, telling her, “You indispensable committedness maine 2 things. First, you volition not archer anyone my name. Second, you volition bash what you privation to bash with your life.” Nearly sixty years later Steinem broke that promise when she dedicated her memoir, *My Life On The Road*, to Dr. John Sharpe. She described the abortion speak‑out as a “light bulb moment”—the realization that the United States needed a broader women’s‑rights movement. Almost overnight she became a crusader for abortion rights, framing it as “reproductive freedom.” The term she coined is credited with making the subject more accessible for political debate and continues to be used in contemporary discussions. Steinem organized marches and quickly became a visible presence at demonstrations, although she admitted early on that addressing large crowds felt “utterly terrifying.” When Congress failed to pass the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1970—a measure that would have granted women rights equal to those of men—Steinem co‑founded the National Women’s Political Caucus with fellow feminist leaders and more than 300 women from across the United States. The organization aimed to integrate women into every facet of political and public life. That same year she testified before Senate hearings on the ERA, telling the predominantly male audience, “I person been refused work successful nationalist restaurants, ordered retired of nationalist gathering places and turned distant from flat rentals each for the intelligibly stated, sole crushed that I americium a woman.” Second‑wave feminism continued to gather momentum, and Steinem remained one of its most celebrated figureheads. Criticism, however, arrived from both the left and the right, targeting everything from her appearance to her motives. Some argued she was too glamorous to be a genuine feminist; others claimed her success stemmed solely from her looks. Betty Friedan, author of *The Feminine Mystique*—the work credited with igniting second‑wave feminism—expressed irritation that Steinem had become the movement’s public face, accusing her of “ripping disconnected the question for backstage profit” when she launched Ms. Friedan fumed that the media were attempting “to marque her a celebrity,” insisting “no one should mistake her for a leader.” US President Richard Nixon was secretly recorded during a rant about Steinem, to which she replied, “There is immoderate sentiment that Richard Nixon is the astir sexually insecure main of authorities since Napoleon.” Al Goldstein, the notorious pornographer and publisher of *Screw* magazine, launched a series of attacks that included publishing her telephone number beside fabricated advertisements for oral sex. He also printed a graphic centrefold depicting a Steinem look‑alike and displayed it openly on a newsstand outside the Ms. magazine office building, forcing her to view it daily. As she aged, the intensity of such harassment diminished, yet her recognizability in New York City meant strangers still occasionally stopped her on the street—sometimes with hostility—to engage her in debate. She welcomed the continued discourse. In 2020 she joined a cross‑section of national figures in signing an open letter denouncing cancel culture, asserting that it weakens open dialogue by silencing individuals. She told the New York Times, “If you attraction astir having the conversation, surely you privation to effort successful a humane mode to person the different person, not bash distant with them.” ‘I can't mate in captivity’ Steinem once quipped, “I can't mate in captivity,” referencing her disinterest in marriage. Nonetheless, she publicly enjoyed a steady dating life with several affluent and celebrated bachelors, giving critics additional fodder. Among them were Frank Thomas, head of the Ford Foundation; film director Mike Nichols; and Olympic decathlete Rafer Johnson (who assisted in subduing the man who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy in 1968). She recalled, “I was the 1 ever accused of utilizing men, of being excessively sexual. Someone erstwhile sent maine a cartoon of a tombstone that said 'at past she sleeps alone'.” In 2000, at age 66, she married David Bale, a South African‑born entrepreneur‑environmentalist and father of actor Christian Bale. The union prompted gasps of surprise—and, for some feminists, disappointment—given the years Steinem had spent debating marriage laws. She later explained that the legal landscape had shifted: “If I had joined erstwhile I was expected to get married, I would have mislaid my name, my ineligible residence, my recognition rating, galore of my civilian rights. That's not existent anymore. It's imaginable to marque an adjacent marriage.” Steinem also acknowledged that the marriage was, in part, a “green paper” arrangement because Bale’s US visa was expiring, but emphasized that they loved each other and intended to remain together regardless. Bale passed away three years later from brain lymphoma. Steinem faced her own health scare in 1986 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a lumpectomy. She once said she hoped to live to 100 because “there's truth