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Jenni Farrow/The Daily Reflector
Gloria Steinem speaks at East Carolina University's Wright Auditorium on Friday evening.
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Feminist icon Gloria Steinem visited Greenville on Friday to speak at East Carolina University. What's your assessment of the feminist movement?
Steinem: 'We truly are one movement'
By Kristin Day
The Daily Reflector
Friday, November 06, 2009
American feminist icon, journalist and political activist Gloria Steinem visited East Carolina University on Friday with one central message: linkage.
“We truly are one movement,” Steinem said, recognizing the women's movement, civil rights, homosexual rights and even environmentalism.
“All movements of social justice are linked,” she said. “... It is no accident that the movements for racial liberation and women's liberation have always come together.”
Steinem attributes discrimination and the violence often associated with it to a learned desire for control. It was women's ability to bear children that first made them objects to be controlled, she said..
“Somewhere ... there came to be systems of patriarchy that insisted on controlling women's bodies in order to decide how many workers, how many soldiers, who owned them, and systems of legitimacy and so on” she said. “What doubled that was racism. If you're going to maintain a racist system, you have to maintain some degree of visible difference over the long term. And the only way you can do that is by controlling women's bodies as the most basic needs of reproduction.
“So it's no accident that in the South, the most punished crime was not murder or theft or arson. It was miscegenation (specifically a man of color having a child with or even approaching a white woman) — then most consistently, historically punished crime.”
Steinem also spoke at length about what she calls a media myth that many times has claimed that the feminist movement is over, a statement she said Time Magazine has made 27 times.
“It goes deep, and we are subject to these myths,” Steinem said. “And it's part of the human condition that the general social myth is so powerful for us that we sometimes think that we are the strange exception, when really, we are the majority.”
Another part of the myth, she said, is that feminists are all “man-hating.” But Steinem stressed that the movement's mission is to break gender roles and allow freedom for men and women.
“It's as if all of the human qualities were divided into masculine and feminine and about a third of them are considered feminine and about two-thirds of them are considered masculine,” she said. “So it's true that women are more deprived by the feminine roles ⦠but men are deprived of many human qualities, too. So all of us are striving to gain the full circle of human qualities.”
The appearance of Steinem, who was welcomed to the stage of Wright Auditorium with a standing ovation, was part of ECU's Voyages of Discovery Lecture Series. But she maintained that everything the audience came to discover, they already knew.
“I am here mainly as an excuse to bring you together and discover that you didn't need me in the first place,” she said. “You have all the energy and creativity and hopes and dreams and anger and you know what needs changing here much better than I do.”
Contact Kristin Day at kday@reflector.com or 329-9579.
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Your comments
John Tucker
11/08/2009 03:58:44 PM
Those who enjoyed the Steinem lecture might be interested in two others in the spring semester:
Suggest removalProfessor Trudier Harris will speak on "Little Old Ladies and the Last Word: An Exploration of Sassiness and Risque Behavior in African American Folklore" on Feb. 17, 2010
and
Professor Theda Purdue will speak on "Lost and Found Native American Tribes of Eastern North Carolina" on March 18.
Both Harris and Purdue participate in the Women's Studies Program at UNC-Chapel Hill.
JohnH
11/08/2009 02:53:09 PM
I'll find it a whole lot easier to take the feminist idea of "equality" seriously when the movement recognizes the right of unborn children to live. Their support of abortion on demand constitutes one of the greatest hypocrisies on the planet.
Suggest removalFeminist
11/08/2009 07:59:48 AM
To Jack: Gee, I never thought of equality from the angle of the military, but you're absolutely correct. How could I have been so dense as to not see that? Which obviously means that as soon as men can bear children, we will truly be equal as people. Betcha I can enlist before you can give birth.
Suggest removalInteresting Connection
11/07/2009 05:33:54 PM
When getting my book signed Ms. Steinem told me that she had been honored by lifetime television with Mr.Romery a few years ago. She was so nice in person, I would have loved to stay and talk to her and could have listened for hours. The only down side was people who's questions were more like speeches.
Suggest removalTo Cheryl Dudasik-Wiggs
11/07/2009 05:14:35 PM
Thank you for your words when you introduced Ms. Steinem, you articulated what so many feel. The whole event was so good. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Suggest removalCheryl Dudasik-Wiggs
11/07/2009 04:43:57 PM
Thank you, everyone, for making the evening such a huge success! For more information on the ECU Women's Studies Program, please go to www.ecu.edu/WOST or "friend" us on Facebook at ECU Women's Studies. I will be posting pictures over the next few days.
Suggest removalWhen I told Ms. Steinem about Peter Romary, by the way, she was eager to meet him last night and was delighted that our community has such a strong advocate for peace and equality. We are, indeed, fortunate.
Book Signing
11/07/2009 02:36:21 PM
I now have a book signed by one of the greatest inspirations in my life and a picture I will treasure. This was awesome!
Suggest removalGreat Event
11/07/2009 02:34:42 PM
I have never seen a man stand up and say he was a feminist before, that took courage and was wonderful. While it was clear he and Gloria Steinem knew each other, I believe she has inspired many men to privately feel the same way, including my husband. This was such a great lecture, for me and my family. ECU is a treasure for our community.
Suggest removalThank You ECU
11/07/2009 02:30:36 PM
A very powerful lecture, indeed. And thank you to Ms. Dudasik-Wiggs for a wonderful introduction. I have not been to one of the lectures in this series before but after this I too will be returning. Please keep them coming.
Suggest removalmarc faris
11/07/2009 01:47:19 PM
The introduction was given by Cheryl Dudasik-Wiggs, director of the Women's Studies Program at ECU. And the series website is here: http://www.ecu.edu/voyages/
Suggest removalA deeply inspiring and thought-provoking evening!!!
More Information Please
11/07/2009 10:58:04 AM
I too really enjoyed the lecture and would also like more information about the series and about donating to the series. I was invited by a friend and was overwhelmed by the crowd and the lecture. My congratulations to ECU.
Suggest removalTo Professor Tucker
11/07/2009 10:49:13 AM
Do you know who the lady was who introduced Ms. Steinem? She was wonderful and her comments spoke what I wanted to say but I know I could never put it as well as she did. Also, where can we find out about more in this series?
Suggest removalAmazing
11/07/2009 10:46:50 AM
I will never forget this talk. Voyages of Discovery will have my backing next year, please keep these coming. I too was thrilled she spoke of her respect for the work of a man. Gloria is about love and equality. Thank you, thank you ECU my family and I will be coming back for more.
Suggest removalEqual Opportunity
11/07/2009 10:38:07 AM
What was wonderful about her speech was that she dispelled any idea that feminsts are man haters when she twice honored a man who was there for his work against violence against women. It was obvious she knew him and his work and was quick to recognize him. No man hating, just love. Gloria was amazing.
Suggest removaljack
11/07/2009 10:36:28 AM
There will be true equality when the women in the United States have to register for the draft along with all the young men who turn 18.
Suggest removalUntil then, women will have to contend with the fact that they are seen as inferior to protect our country in case of the necessity of re-implementing the draft and supplementing our volunteer forces.
John Tucker
11/07/2009 10:00:13 AM
Pam -- Do you have more information about Ms. Steinem's previous visit to ECU, with Betty Friedan? Specific dates would be helpful. As the University Historian, I would like to enter this in my register. Are you sure that they visited ECU, not just Greenville?
Suggest removalFeminist
11/07/2009 09:42:48 AM
As a female growing up in the 60's and 70's it was an absolute pleasure to attend last night's presentation with my 18 year-old daughter. "It's not about male bashing" as Ms Steinem so eloquently stated, it's about equality. My only regret is that Ms Steinem couldn't come home with us to continue the conversation. Thank you, thank you, thank you ECU for inviting such a thought provoking speaker to eastern Carolina.
Suggest removalPam Diffee
11/07/2009 12:58:15 AM
I met and accompanied Ms.Steinem on her previous visit to ECU, almost 37 years ago. She came with Betty Friedan and had such an effect on all of us...young girls facing the challenges of the women's movement, the conflicting views of our parents, Vietnam, Kent State, and everything else hitting us in the 70s...her message is still clear today. And she is wrong...the world needs her voice more than ever. I'll never forget meeting her.
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