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Gloria Steinem (Women’s Issues (Ready Reference series))

Author Profile

Journalist Gloria Steinem first made her mark in 1963, with an exposé based on her one-month undercover assignment as a Playboy “bunny.” She joined Betty Friedan and others in organizing the Women’s Strike for Equality in 1970 and the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971. Although her focus has always been women’s rights, Steinem’s activism extends to work with United Farm Workers, environmental issues, various liberal political campaigns, and antiwar protests.

Repeatedly named one of the twenty-five most influential women in the United States, Steinem defines feminism as “equality for all females—a transformation of society.” In the 1970’s, Steinem was aligned with the radical wing of the women’s movement, supporting strong lesbian rights initiatives. By the late 1980’s, however, many feminists criticized her for moving into the mainstream, especially after publication of the best-seller Revolution from Within (1992). They charged that Steinem had abandoned feminism with her focus on “self-recovery,” while she responded that “self-authority is the single most radical idea there is.”

Steinem’s strongest impact has been through her speeches, articles, and books and through the publications that she cofounded, especially Ms. magazine, whose first press run of 300,000 copies sold out in eight days. Steinem’s articles, such as “What If Freud Were Phyllis” and “Sex, Lies, and Advertising,” have been widely reprinted. Her best- selling books include Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), Marilyn: Norma Jean (1986), and Moving Beyond Words (1994).

Bibliography

Brown, Spencer. “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.” Sewanee Review 92 (Fall, 1984). Praises Steinem’s courage in speaking out against genital mutilation of girls in Arab and African countries yet dismisses her portrayal of women as more decent than men.

Cohen, Marcia. The Sisterhood: The True Story of the Women Who Changed the World. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988. Offers a look at the lives of Betty Friedan and other feminists, including Germaine Greer, Susan Brownmiller, and Gloria Steinem, and their positions and struggles in the women’s rights movement.

Fritz, Leah. “Rebel with a Cause.” The Woman’s Review of Books 1 (December, 1983). Argues that Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions is thought-provoking and vital.

Heilbrun, Carolyn G. The Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem. New York: Dial Press, 1995. A biography written by the feminist literary critic who was to academic women what Steinem was to American women as a whole.

Stern, Sydney Ladensohn. Gloria Steinem: Her Passion, Politics, and Mystique. Secaucus, N.J.: Carol, 1997. A biography that addresses many of the contradictions in Steinem’s character and life.

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