She's the women's rights warrior who's been an undercover bunny, championed reproductive rights, and founded the first national feminist magazine.
This is the story of Gloria Steinem.
This is the story of Gloria Steinem.
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00:00Actually, the only alternative to being a feminist is being a masochist, if you're a woman.
00:21It is the beginning of the male-female hierarchy.
00:25You know, the fact that women have the power of childbearing and can control it
00:32is the beginning of equality, or conversely, if we can't control it, of inequality.
00:56I'm sure that I got from my father this love of freedom, of independence, of not being accountable
01:05to anyone, and I have remained a freelancer all my life.
01:25You know, I contemplated all kinds of crazy things, going horseback riding,
01:36throwing myself downstairs. I had totally unrealistic ideas.
01:44And the luck of my life was that I found in the telephone directory a physician who was near
01:54where I lived, and I went to see him, and he said to me,
02:00I will refer you to a woman who will do this, but you must never tell anyone my name.
02:08And, you know, I never did until many years later when I dedicated a book to him.
02:14But it allowed me to have a safe abortion and utterly changed my life,
02:22allowed me to go to India to complete my fellowship and to lead my life.
02:52I discovered the working conditions of the women themselves. I discovered they had to
03:11have an internal exam, and we were told that it was a condition of the state for health,
03:20which was ridiculous. It was just trying to make sure that women who, you know,
03:27were then encouraged or forced into sexual activity did not have venereal disease.
03:34On the one hand, it was a piece of investigative journalism.
03:39On the other hand, I then spent years, and even now, I'm identified as an ex-bunny.
03:58I was the girl writer. And when I first covered an abortion hearing, which was a great revelation
04:06to me because I suddenly was seeing women talking about something that only happened
04:13to women and taking it seriously, my male colleagues, you know, took me aside
04:20one by one and said, oh, Gloria, do not get involved with these crazy women.
04:36Ms. Magazine was the beginning in many ways because finally, finally, there was a magazine
04:50that we controlled. I mean, we weren't very big, but at least we could cover what our readers were
04:58interested in and make sure the facts were correct and listen to our reader letters. And, you know,
05:06it was heaven. It was not big, I have to say, but it was heaven.
05:37We assume that women are equal human beings. We're not still arguing about it like other magazines.
05:44So
05:59much as I love books, you can't empathize
06:04in the same way that you can when you're together with all five senses.
06:14So
06:37Shirley Chisholm has not got the depth and breadth of the coverage she deserves.
06:42But the fact is that with or without that coverage, she represents a coalition of the powerless.
07:03It really is going forward on all levels at once, and it's an important bridge between
07:08black women and white women and also a great way into the silent majority.
07:38Just to make our own lives and real experiences visible is a huge motive.
08:01There's a young girl named Gloria Steinem who arrived in New York to make her mark as a
08:06journalist. And magazines only wanted her to write articles like,
08:10How to Cook Without Really Cooking for Men. Because of her work across America and around
08:17the world, more women are afforded the respect and opportunities that they deserve.
08:24So
08:36thank you for understanding that sometimes we must put our bodies where our beliefs are.
08:44Sometimes pressing send is not enough. Just this march in Washington today
08:51required a thousand more buses than the entire inauguration.
09:21We just need to be whoever the f*** we are, you know, and just do it.