Gloria Steinem’s Legacy Is Rejection of Womanhood

Yesterday, following the death of feminist activist Gloria Steinem at the age of 92, Netflix released her episode of Famous Last Words, which records interviews with notable people that are only to be released posthumously. After a 40-or-so-minute sit-down conversation with Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk — the cameras are operated remotely by videographers who do not have audio access, so it is as private as can be — he leaves the room and, true to the series’ title, allows his guest to voice his or her last words to the public.

Steinem, especially in her heyday in the ’70s, was always known for her looks, with Vogue once having called her “the most attractive activist in Women’s Lib.” Although at the time of the Netflix recording, she no longer had the iconic streaked hair or the aviator glasses that defined her public image, she was, even in her nineties, unmistakably the same woman who went undercover as a Playboy bunny in order to expose the poor working conditions of the women in Hugh Hefner’s empire — strikingly beautiful, charming, eloquent, sincere. At the end of the episode, she looks straight into the camera and says:

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About the Author

Neeraja Deshpande

Neeraja Deshpande is a policy analyst at Independent Women (independentwomen.com), and a senior contributor to IW Features (iwfeatures.com).

Yesterday, following the death of feminist activist Gloria Steinem at the age of 92, Netflix released her episode of Famous Last Words, which records interviews with notable people that are only to be released posthumously. After a 40-or-so-minute sit-down conversation with Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk — the cameras are operated remotely by videographers who do not have audio access, so it is as private as can be — he leaves the room and, true to the series’ title, allows his guest to voice his or her last words to the public.

Steinem, especially in her heyday in the ’70s, was always known for her looks, with Vogue once having called her “the most attractive activist in Women’s Lib.” Although at the time of the Netflix recording, she no longer had the iconic streaked hair or the aviator glasses that defined her public image, she was, even in her nineties, unmistakably the same woman who went undercover as a Playboy bunny in order to expose the poor working conditions of the women in Hugh Hefner’s empire — strikingly beautiful, charming, eloquent, sincere. At the end of the episode, she looks straight into the camera and says: