Steinem, Gloria (redirected from Gloria Steinem)

Steinem, Gloria (stīn`əm), 1934–, American journalist and feminist, b. Toledo, Ohio, grad. Smith College (B.A., 1956). Steinem gained prominence as a spokeswoman for women's rights in articles, lectures, and television appearances. She helped found the National Women's Political Caucus (1971), the Women's Action Alliance (1971), and the Coalition of Labor Union Women (1974). She was also the founding editor (1972) of Ms., a feminist magazine, remaining actively involved until its closing (1987) and becoming a consulting editor upon its revival (1990). Her books include Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), a biography of Marilyn Monroe (1986), Revolution from Within (1992), and the essay collection Moving beyond Words (1993).

Bibliography

See biographies by S. Henry and E. Taitz (1987), C. G. Heilbrun (1995), and S. L. Stern (1997).

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Steinem, Gloria

(born March 25, 1934, Toledo, Ohio, U.S.) U.S. political activist, feminist, and editor. She began her career as a writer and journalist in New York and became deeply involved in the women's liberation movement in the late 1960s. In 1971 she was a founder of the National Women's Political Caucus, and in 1972 she founded Ms., a trendsetting magazine that she subsequently edited, to treat contemporary issues from a feminist perspective. In the 1970s and '80s she founded or cofounded other women's organizations, including the National Organization for Women. Her books include Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), Marilyn (1986), and Revolution from Within (1992).

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Steinem, Gloria (1934–  ) writer, feminist, social reformer; born in Toledo, Ohio. After graduating from Smith College (1956), she went to India on a scholarship and stayed on to write newspaper articles and a guidebook. Determined to be a journalist, she returned to the U.S.A. and worked (1958–60) for the Independent Research Service (later revealed as secretly subsidized by the CIA). She went to New York City and began as a free-lancer, first attracting attention with her article, "I Was a Playboy Bunny," an exposé based on her own undercover work in a New York City Playboy Club. She was soon publishing her articles and becoming something of a celebrity, often seen with celebrity males; she also began to write some television comedy material. In 1968 she was invited to write a column, "The City Politic," for a new magazine, New York, thus beginning her career as a serious social commentator. She also became affiliated with a radical women's group, the Redstockings, and published her first overtly feminist piece, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation" (1968). In 1971 she joined other prominent feminists in forming the National Women's Political Caucus and took the lead in launching Ms. magazine (an insert in New York in December 1971, first independent issue in January 1972). About this time she began to come under fire from some feminists, in part because of her work with the Independent Research Service, in part because some questioned whether anyone so glamorous could be a serious feminist. But she continued on her own way, speaking out, lecturing widely, organizing various women's functions, and editing Ms. until 1987. In 1986 she published Marilyn, a biographical study of Marilyn Monroe's life from a feminist perspective. In 1992 she became controversial once again when she published Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem, which seemed to some feminists to be a retreat from social action.