So the NYT wonders why all these years later, no one has stepped up to fill Gloria Steinhem's shoes

[kpete]

Where is the next Gloria Steinem, and why — decades after the media spotlight first focused on her — has no one emerged to take her place?
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/fashion/in-the-womans-movement-who-will-replace-gloria-steinem.html

So the NYT wonders today why all these years later, no one has stepped up to fill Gloria Steinhem's shoes. Dear NTY, perhaps you've noticed what happens to women who dare to speak up for their own rights in this country. Right now the wingnuts are calling Ms. Fluke all kinds of terrible things, are picking on her boyfriend, her boyfriend's parents, and his grandparents. And they do it deliberately to make sure women know that if they open their mouths, they'll pay a huge price.
hat tip: Hecate_Demetersdatter
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2012/03/sunday-bobbleheads_18.html#disqus_thread

[dkf]

1. Maybe because women aren't second class anymore.

Look at Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton. The sky is the limit.

[ProSense]

3. Yet

Maybe because women aren't second class anymore.

Look at Angela Merkel or Hillary Clinton. The sky is the limit.

...women's rights are under attack. That's like claiming that there is no need to address discrimination against minorities because Obama is President.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002432662

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002436891

[dkf]

6. Does the phrase "women's rights" only pertain to the ability to prevent/terminate pregnancies?

In all other aspects I think the simple competence of women is trumping stereotypes.

For abortion, that will always be a moral and personal judgment. If it entails society accepting en mass that abortion is all well and good, I don't think we will ever get there.

[kestrel91316]

15. We've noticed your opposition to women's reproductive rights.

Again, and again, and again.....

[dkf]

16. I have no opposition to it. It's a personal thing.

I don't believe the state should get involved on any side for or against.

Why isn't it in the private realm where people have access and provide for their own services?

[dkf]

18. Why does the government get involved with this at all? Isn't it no one else's business?

Stop preventing abortions and don't ask taxpayers to pay for it. Why isn't that the solution?

Same thing for birth control. If the government really wants better access to contraception then take it OTC.

[dkf]

20. I pay taxes and I'm sick of this argument. It will never be resolved.

[dkf]

22. We shouldn't have to pay for wars that aren't properly declared.

We have totally lost control of our ability to say what we pay for. Heck who even knows the extent of our funding on anything?

[lumberjack_jeff]

12. But do african americans in 2012 need another Martin Luther King?

The playing field is radically different than it was in 1965. No one has stepped into Gloria Steinem's shoes because that particular pair of shoes is not suited to the function needed today, and arguably worn out.

[ananda]

2. Well, yes...

... the world is certainly good for rich, entitled women... the 1%.

But for the rest, it's another story entirely... regressing and getting
worse daily.

[ProSense]

4. It's like

every other civil rights issue. There have not been clear and highly prominent leaders on any of these issues.

Immigration and voting rights are under attack. The RW has launched an all out war on civil rights.

[LiberalFighter]

5. Have they questioned who will fill the shoes for Phyllis Schafley?

Or Rush Limbaugh?

[riderinthestorm]

7. I'd stipulate that Gloria Steinem could be viewed as the "tip of the spear" for feminism

She is a magnificent leader for women's equality in general.

Now we have multiple women leading on numerous fronts; birth control, women leaders in politics, women leaders in medicine, law, pilots, military etc. etc. So the leadership is now much more diffuse and working hard in their particular zone. Its really hard because so many of them are vilified when they step out in front (like Hillary Clinton or in today's news Sandra Fluke).

If we are lacking leadership anywhere I'd say it's on the social issues: pay, working conditions, childcare. The Department of Health and Human Services is headed by Kathleen Sebelius who could do more to put a spotlight on these issues imho.

[bonnieS]

17. a lot of what you say is true

As a NOW member I find that there are leaders nationally, statewide, and locally. In fact I am President of a chapter, once again, as I was in the late 70's. However, it must be remembered that the media chose Steinem (articulate and terrific as she has always been) because she was so pretty, to be a "leader." At the time, like Occupy today, we did not have one leader who spoke for all. We were many, and we are many now.

The Times and other mainstream publications are always predicting or announcing the death of the women's movement and always finding a new way to make women feel that we are adrift. We are under total attack, but we are resolute. As always.

[Zalatix]

8. If the reason Gloria Steinem has no successors is that Sandra Fluke was bullied

then the Left is already dead.

Heat and pressure harden eggs. Iron is forged in fire. If the threat of a serious ass whupping or the occurrence of one is enough to scare women into not fighting for equal rights then we not only have a misogyny issue... we have a lack of courage issue, and I'm not really sure which one is worse.

[MadrasT]

9. Seems to me

Seems to me that feminists are more interested in fighting against each other than about getting anything useful accomplished.

And most "feminists" I seem to encounter in the real world are all wrapped up in promoting "sex positivism" and have lost focus on the other (non sexy) stuff.

[madrchsod]

10. why? because there`s tens of millions of gloria steinhems across the country

all the children say....

"we don`t need another hero

we don`t need to know the way home

all we want is life beyond the thunderdome"

[BeyondGeography]

11. There's a 25-point gender gap in our favor

so I don't think the nation is actually suffering politically for lack of post-Steinems.

[LadyHawkAZ]

13. The fact that this article got parked in "Fashion and Style"

might be a clue about the answer to that question.

[Kath1]

14. There was only one Gloria Steinem

Right woman at the right time and Right On about everything. Pro-choice, anti-war and way ahead of her time. Respect her greatly!

[seabeyond]

23. i have been thinking about this. what i see, it is not about ALL of women, but individual

there is not the sense of responsibility to all women. it is responsibility to self. so you have all these laws being passed effecting the younger women and they dont have the sense of solidarity. they are taught that it is individual empowerment. whereas you see the older women stepping up, speaking out like the steinmans and fondas cause that is what the movement was in the past