GLORIA STEINEM
Illustration by Rosy Petri
“It’s a Good Day to Change the World”

Today, we hear from Gloria Steinem about how to start a revolution. Through her speeches, books, documentary films, and the feminist organizations she’s founded, Gloria advocates for reproductive choice and ending violence against women and children. She cofounded the Ms. Foundation for Women, and the Women’s Media Center,among others. She was one of the founders of New York magazine and in 1972 she launched Ms., the first feminist magazine with national distribution.

This is episode 3 from a special segment for Women’s History Month about how we can build a more feminist future....and take care of ourselves and each other when the work is daunting. Find more trailblazers in our new book, It’s a Good Day to Change the World.

TRANSCRIPT

Lauren Schiller: I’m Lauren Schiller, creator of Inflection Point and author of the new book IT’S A GOOD DAY TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

Every week, throughout women’s history month, we’re bringing you a special segment about how we can build a more feminist future....and take care of ourselves and each other along the way.

Today, we hear from Gloria Steinem about how to start a revolution

Through her speeches, books, documentary films, and the feminist organizations she’s founded, Gloria advocates for reproductive choice and ending violence against women and children. She cofounded the Ms. Foundation for Women, and the Women’s Media Center,among others. She WAS ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF New York magazine and in 1972 she LAUNCHED Ms., the first feminist magazine with national distribution.

Gloria Steinem: National magazines for women are not owned, controlled and edited by women even now. And then it was absolutely, you know, a very strange idea women's magazines were and still art to a large extent about fashion and beauty and cooking and pleasing and so on.

So the idea that, that we , we were going to start what we thought of as a way of making revolution, not hamburgers as Flo Kennedy, always very, very, very ridicule. We were so afraid that we were going to disgrace the entire women's movement. That though it came out in, in January, we covered dated its spring because we did, we thought it might just lie there

But what actually happened was that as all the authors in it spread out, ‘cause we didn't have any money for publicity. I came here to San Francisco and I was on some morning show and someone called after the show and said, you know, we can't find it on the newsstand.

And so I called home and I said, it never got here. It didn't get distributed. And it turned out, it had sold out in eight days .

Lauren Schiller: Here are some of Gloria's tools to change the world:

First, Learn from Indigenous cultures

Gloria Steinem: probably most of human history and certainly in north and south America, the earliest Cultures are matrilineal women controlled their own fertility by herbs and abortifacients.

Women tended also to control agriculture, well, men hunted, but those two things were considered equally necessary. And many of the native American cultures here, female elders decided, uh, if it was necessary to go to war or when to make peace, they chose the male leaders. They were part of a circular, consultative consensus seeking government form that was profoundly democratic.

Lauren Schiller: Second, organize in community

Gloria Steinem: If you want people to listen to you, you [00:03:00] have to listen to them. If you want to know how people live, you have to go where they live. Everybody needs to tell their stories, sitting in a circle, being listened to in order to have a community of support and change

Lauren Schiller: Gloria's next tool, balance power

So if you are in a group and you. More power, than the other folks in the group. Just remember to listen as much as you talk. All right. If you have less power, remember to talk as much as you listen, which can be just

Lauren Schiller: Fourth, Battle for your body

Gloria Steinem: Controlling our own physical selves, especially for women is the first step in any democracy. either. We decide what happens to our bodies. We can use our own voices or there is no democracy after that.

Lauren Schiller: And finally, how do we sustain ourselves when the work is daunting?

Laugh. As much as possible.

Gloria Steinem:Laughter happens when you learn something, when you think of something, right. And old cultures, especially native American culture. Ha have a spirit of laughter who is neither male, nor female who symbolizes breaking into the unknown. They say, laughter breaks into the unknown that if you can't laugh, you can't pray.

So I would just submit that if you use the degree of laughter as proof of freedom. It's a kind of daily guide .

Lauren Schiller: Part of this conversation was recorded live on stage with Women Lit and the Bay Area Book Festival.

Find more of Gloria Steinem’s story, along with more trailblazers and their tools, In our new book — IT’S A GOOD DAY TO CHANGE THE WORLD — based on INFLECTION POINT interviews.

You can find it wherever you get your books. Learn more about the book at inflectionpointradio.org.

This series was produced in collaboration with K A L W. Our executive producer is David Boyer. Our impact producer and my co-author is Hadley Dynak.

I'm Lauren Schiller.