Gloria Steinem
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"Erotica is as different from pornography as love is from rape, as dignity is from humiliation, as partnership is from slavery, as pleasure is from pain." --"Erotica vs. Pornography ", 1983, Gloria Steinem |
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Gloria Marie Steinem (born March 25, 1934) is an American feminist, journalist, and social political activist who became nationally recognized as a leader and a spokeswoman for the American feminist movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Steinem was a columnist for New York magazine, and a co-founder of Ms. magazine. In 1969, Steinem published an article, "After Black Power, Women's Liberation", which brought her to national fame as a feminist leader.
In 2005, Steinem, Jane Fonda, and Robin Morgan co-founded the Women's Media Center, an organization that works "to make women visible and powerful in the media".
Steinem currently travels internationally as an organizer and lecturer, and is a media spokeswoman on issues of equality.
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Pornography
Steinem has criticized pornography, which she distinguishes from erotica, writing: "Erotica is as different from pornography as love is from rape, as dignity is from humiliation, as partnership is from slavery, as pleasure is from pain." (Erotica and Pornography: A Clear and Present Difference, Ms. November 1978, p. 53. & Pornography—Not Sex but the Obscene Use of Power. Ms. August 1977, p. 43.) Steinem's argument hinges on the distinction between reciprocity versus domination, as she writes, "Blatant or subtle, pornography involves no equal power or mutuality. In fact, much of the tension and drama comes from the clear idea that one person is dominating the other."
On the issue of same-sex pornography, Steinem asserts, "Whatever the gender of the participants, all pornography including male-male gay pornography is an imitation of the male-female, conqueror-victim paradigm, and almost all of it actually portrays or implies enslaved women and master." Steinem has also cited "snuff films" as a serious threat to women.
Works
- The Thousand Indias (1957)
- The Beach Book (1963), New York: Viking Press. OCLC 1393887
- Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983), New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Template:ISBN
- Marilyn: Norma Jean (1986), with George Barris, New York: Holt. Template:ISBN
- Revolution from Within (1992), Boston: Little, Brown. Template:ISBN
- Moving beyond Words (1993), New York: Simon & Schuster. Template:ISBN
- Doing Sixty & Seventy (2006), San Francisco: Elders Academy Press. Template:ISBN
- My Life on the Road (2015), New York: Random House. Template:ISBN
See also
Further reading
- Education of A Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem by Carolyn Heilbrun (Ballantine Books, United States, 1995) Template:ISBN
- Gloria Steinem: Her Passions, Politics, and Mystique by Sydney Ladensohn Stern (Birch Lane Press, 1997) Template:ISBN