Feminism of Gloria Marie Steinem. Literature & Language Research Paper

Keith Song
Ms. Lowell
Multicultural Literature Period D
16 March 2020
Final Project
Gloria Marie Steinem
Gloria Marie Steinem is an American feminist, journalist, and social political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the American feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Steinem was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. She is eighty-five years old now. She was raised in a family that has a close relationship to feminism. Her paternal grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, was chairwoman of the educational committee of the National Woman Suffrage Association, a delegate to the 1908 International Council of Women. Gloria Marie Steinem has made four contributions to society and the development of feminism. Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine, and a co-founder of Ms. Magazine. Her article “After Black Power, Women's Liberation” influences people and promotes the feminism activity. She is one of the founders of “women's media center” that is to work to make women visible and powerful in the media. She is also a media spokeswoman on issues of equality, traveling internationally as an organizer and lecturer.
New York Magazine and Ms. Magazine
Gloria Steinem was a renowned political columnist of New York Magazine and the co-founder of the women's magazine “Ms.” (Marcello, 96, 124). In 1966, Gloria helped Clay Felker, the co-founder of New York magazine, to gather funds out the publication where they launched many fund-raising activities and other money generating projects (95). By 1967, Gloria continued her help in the New York magazine as a columnist where she found her serious passion in writing about politics (96). Towards the end of 1967, she started writing a regular column in the small-scale New York magazine called “The City Politic” (96). At the start of her career, she stressed the effects of the Vietnam War, the increased tax payments of the federal government, and the new factions that are breaking out in the country, which includes the New Left and New Right factions (96). Additionally, she consistently releases political articles about race equality, especially her stand in support for the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (96). As years passed, Gloria observed gender inequality in the US. She saw that women had fewer legal rights compared to men, which sparked her passion in fighting for feminist movements against the oppressive patriarchal rule (Pogrebin). Her struggle against sex-discrimination foreshadowed the birth of “Ms.”, a liberal feminist magazine, that discusses gender issues including sexual harassment and domestic violence (Marcello, 124; Pogrebin). The “Ms.” magazine started as a small insert in the New York magazine in 1971, where Clay Felker financed the sample issue (Marcello, 125). During that time, women ran magazines were not allowed to publish stories that they felt were important. Women's magazine should only focus on fashion, cosmetics and cooking recipes (Pogrebin). As the magazine gained popularity, Ms. magazine eventually split from New York magazine as a stand-alone publication that increases the awareness of people about women’s rights and issues (Marcello, 125).
After Black Power, Women's Liberation
In 1968, Gloria published an article titled, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation," which is one of the first stories that explains feminism where the article garnered national fame and awards (Marcello, 104). On March 21, 1969, Gloria attended a rally in Redstockings, in which the mass gathering talked about abortion as well as the sharing of experiences of the women that had to endure the horrors of illegal abortion (104). In this rally, Gloria listened to stories about the pain, suffering and death of women, Gloria had a realization about fighting for the feminist movement. She published the “After Black Power, Women's Liberation” in her City Politic column for the New York Magazine on April 4, 1969 (104). In her article, she clarified the misunderstandings of the people about what it meant to be a liberated woman. First, she described the misdefined meaning of a liberated woman by society as "somebody who had sex before marriage and a job afterwards (Steinem)." She discussed the sexist laws of patriarchy about limiting the rights of women in society to be the source of the gender related problems. She explained that breaking out of these patriarchal conventions and promoting women to have equal opportunities as men is necessary to level the inequalities (Steinem). Additionally, Gloria talked about the way in which the women's movement is much as the same way what the Black Power groups had done to challenge racism. Gloria realized tha...