Gloria Steinem, the celebrated author and activist who was one of the most visible symbols and potent voices of the U.S. women’s movement for over six decades, has died. With her trademark streaked hair and large aviator glasses, Steinem, a co-founder of Ms. Magazine, was a hugely recognizable presence wherever she went.
And she went everywhere: Much of her life as an advocate was spent on the road, speaking at college campuses and community centers, at rallies and marches. It should be obvious that people can’t empathize with each other unless we’re in the same room.” Steinem, who had been in declining health, died Wednesday at her home in New York City, according to a post on her social media page. She had recently completed a memoir, to be released this fall.
Her father was a traveling antique salesperson; she spent her early years on the road with her parents, not attending regular school. She began her career as a journalist, notably reporting in 1963 on degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner’s Playboy empire — an undercover assignment she came to later regret. She credits a meeting six years later, where women spoke out in favor of abortion rights, with changing her career path.
She would have simply stuck to writing, she said, if only editors at the time had been willing to let her write about the women’s movement. Steinem’s visibility endured throughout her life Well into her 80s, Steinem was traveling the globe and speaking out on issues of importance to her. These included everything from genital mutilation to Korean reconciliation, but it was equality for women that took precedence.
A 1992 Vanity Fair profile even noted her “spectacular racehorse legs.” “Nobody ever called me beautiful until I was publicly a feminist, and that was in my mid-30s,” she told AP in a 2011 interview. The most hurtful part is that you work very hard, and people say it’s because of your looks.” Steinem dealt with hostility from many directions Appearing on Larry King’s talk show on CNN in 1990, she was visibly stunned when a female caller greeted her cheerfully, then told her to “rot in hell” because she had ruined “the beautiful American family.” But by then, she noted, at least people were taking feminists seriously. That wasn’t the case in 1972 when she co-founded Ms.
Magazine and many commentators — especially male — dismissed it as ridiculous, predicting an early demise. The magazine continues to this day, published by the Feminist Majority Foundation. Among Steinem’s detractors was President Richard Nixon, who was caught on an Oval Office tape ridiculing both her and the “Ms.” title.
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