Life Lessons from Gloria Steinem

Carolyn Farb and Gloria Steinem.

Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, in honor of Women’s History Month, we revisit an interview from our March 1984 issue with Ms. Magazine herself, Gloria Steinem, in conversation with the philanthropist Carolyn Farb. It’s hardly reassuring to see that Steinem delves into issues and injustices that persist today—including white feminism and anti-abortion laws. However, as she describes the obstacles she has faced in her prolific career, it’s clear that Steinem has always expressed her experience of womanhood with conviction and clarity. So sit back and grab a pen—you might learn a thing or two.

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“I can’t quite imagine sharing an apartment permanently with anyone.”

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“The problem is that the country is still so racist–I guess it’s hard to find another word for it–that they still, the press in general and many people, perceive only white women as feminists. They think Black women are [only] Black.”

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“I don’t like debates. I think they’re a very masculine form, like an intellectual prizefight… It’s all heat, but no light.”

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“I don’t remember being thought of as good-looking until I became a feminist. It’s more of a comment on people’s expectations than of what a feminist would look like.” 

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“My literary agent had sent me for an assignment to Life magazine. I walked into the office, and the editor looked up from his desk and said, ‘We don’t want a pretty girl, we want a writer. Get out of here.’”

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“It made you a novelty, sort of like a talking dog—a pretty girl who thinks. But in a deeper sense, it was a liability because they didn’t take you seriously.”

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“I really like to tap dance. I think it’s great fun… sometimes, when I work at home and I’m tired of sitting at the typewriter, I’ll get up and tap dance.”

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“It makes it much easier to have close friends than it was pre-feminism or before conscious feminism. First of all, I’m working with people who share the same values. I can’t tell the difference between my work life and my private life–it’s all the same to me.”

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“I think we spend a lot of time denying our mothers.” 

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“I’m not saying that all women are blameless–all women are not.” 

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“There’s a wonderful cartoon of Reagan in a Western hat and he’s saying, ‘A pregnant woman in every home, a gun in every holster. Make America a man again.’”