Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem, photographed in her home, 1977 ©Lynn GilbertLynn Gilbert [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]In 2009, there were 91 women in Congress. This number wouldn't strike anyone as peculiar or out of the ordinary because these days, people take it for granted that women are allowed positions of power. People forget to remember, though, the time and dedication that it took to create this equality, and the women who helped get there. One such woman is Gloria Steinem. Born to Leo and Ruth Steinem on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. Gloria Steinem had a difficult childhood because her family had to move around constantly due to never having a steady job. She wrote her first essay, "I Was a Playboy Bunny," in 1963 for the magazine Show, and since then has become one of the most powerful figures of modern feminism. Her actions include helping found New York and Ms magazine, taking part in various women's protests, and founding groups aimed to help give more social, political, and economic power to women. Gloria Steinem is a hero and an inspiration because of her intelligence, determination, and strong morals.

Gloria Steinem is intelligent and proves so in all her writing and other feminist actions. Steinem has written a lot of smart, award winning papers. Gloria Steinem has received copious journalism awards, such as the Penney-Missouri Journalism Award, the Women's Sports Journalism Award, Lifetime Achievement in Journalism Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Society of Writers Award from the United Nations (The Official Website of Author and Activist Gloria Steinem). Also, according to New York Times book reviewer Diane Johnson, "reading Ms. Steinem's essays... one is struck by their intelligence, restraint and common sense, as well as by the energetic and involved life they reflect... Her views, like her writing itself, are characterized by engaging qualities of unpretentious clarity and forceful expression" (“Steinem, Gloria 1934-). A deserving hero has a good amount of intellect, which Steinem demonstrates through all the journalism awards she has won. Moreover, Steinem has helped found feminist foundations and magazines. Gloria Steinem and Brenda Feigen founded the Women's Action Alliance, a group whose aim is to help women gain personal and economic equality, in 1971. Steinem also helped found Ms magazine in 1972. Not only does a hero have intelligence, but she also uses it in a way that benefits many others. Steinem used her brainpower for the worthy cause of helping women gain equality in society by creating a feminist group. She also geared her abilities towards creating a magazine whose audience is women, to help support and inspire women. Steinem proved herself a hero by not only being an intelligent human being, but by using that intelligence to help women.

Gloria Steinem speaking with supporters at the Women Together Arizona Summit at Carpenters Local Union in Phoenix, Arizona.Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]Gloria Steinem at news conference, Women's Action AllianceWarren K. Leffler [Public domain]Another quality of Steinem’s that defines her as a hero is the fact that she went out of her comfort zone in order to give women a voice. Steinem was an educated, good-looking, and generally well off woman, and could have just settled for being a journalist writing about silly things like fashion. However, Steinem decided to use what she had to help those who couldn’t help themselves. In 1963, Steinem went undercover as a Playboy Bunny in New York City to experience first hand the awful conditions in which the Bunnies work. She then wrote the essay “I Was a Playboy Bunny” to reveal how badly the Bunnies were treated. Steinem realized that the Bunnies were helplessly trapped in a situation that they thought couldn’t be fixed. In “I Was a Playboy Bunny,” Steinem quotes one of the Bunnies when she writes, “‘One time we all got together and said we’d quit if they didn’t pay us more, but they said to go right ahead, they’d just hire more girls… You can’t win’” (Steinem). This situation illustrates the larger picture of how women in general were perceived in society: as replaceable things of no value. Steinem realized that unless women fought that general perception, they wouldn’t achieve equality in society. The experience of being a Playboy Bunny propelled Steinem into her lifelong fight for the equality and fair representation of women. In “In Praise of Women’s Bodies,” an essay Steinem wrote in 1981, Steinem again goes out of her comfort zone to describe the reality of the imperfections of women’s bodies. Steinem picks from a variety of women at an old-fashioned spa to explain how the so-called imperfections of women’s bodies are actually icons of the beautiful and powerful things women go through. She writes, “Stretch marks and Cesarean incisions from giving birth are very different from accident, war, and fight scars. They evoke courage without violence, strength without cruelty, and even so, they’re far more likely to be worn with diffidence than bragging… Perhaps we’ll only be fully at ease with ourselves when we can appreciate scars as symbols of experience, often experiences that other women share, and see our bodies as unique chapter in a shared story” (Steinem). Steinem turns an uncomfortable situation around in order to portray how powerful and beautiful women actually are. Once more, Steinem challenges society’s expectations of how women should be and what they should feel, and defends the right of women to actually be themselves. Steinem continuously steps out of her comfort zone and pushes the boundaries of what society expects in order empower women, give them a stronger voice, and contribute to the fight for equality.

Without Gloria Steinem's determination to fight for what she believes in and the brains to make a change, women would still be stuck in a world where only men can have power and respect. Steinem relentlessly did task after task to raise the equality of women in the world, and because of that she's an admirable woman and hero. It's in the nature of teenaged girls to concern themselves too much with boys; for many girls, boy and all the drama that comes with them are a central part of life. Because of this, powerful women like Steinem are needed to help others see that independence from the male sex is a good thing, and that women need to love and embrace who they are.

"Gloria Steinem." American Decades. Ed. Judith S. Baughman, et al. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 12 Dec 2010.

"Steinem, Gloria." American Social Reform Movements Reference Library. Ed. Carol Brennan, et al. Vol. 3: Biographies. Detroit: UXL, 2007. 221-229. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 9 Dec. 2010.

"Steinem, Gloria 1934–." Concise Major 21st Century Writers. Ed. Tracey L. Matthews. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 3411-3416. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 13 Dec. 2010.

Steinem, Gloria. Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1983. Print.

The Official Website of Author and Activist Gloria Steinem. N.p., 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2010. <https://www.gloriasteinem.com>.