Gloria Steinem, US feminist and co-founder of “Ms.”, dies at 92

Mourning for Gloria Steinem: The US feminist and journalist died in New York at the age of 92, her foundation announced on social media. The co-founder and editor of the feminist magazine “Ms.” was considered one of the most influential voices in the US women's movement.

“Gloria’s greatest gift was her ability to listen to others and make them feel seen and heard,” her foundation said. Steinem encouraged people to be themselves. She remained true to her independent spirit, always characterized by curiosity and great humor. In recent years she has also hosted discussion groups for hundreds of people in her house.

Steinem began her career as a journalist. Among other things, in 1963 she reported on the degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner's “Playboy” empire, an undercover assignment that she later regretted. An encounter six years later in which women spoke out in favor of abortion rights was, in her own words, decisive for her professional reorientation.

She had to overcome her fear of public appearances

“This public advocacy for a cause was the beginning of my activism,” Steinem, who had an illegal abortion herself at the age of 22, told the AP news agency in 2022. “Either our control over our own bodies is equal, regardless of gender or skin color, or we do not live in a democracy.”

First, however, she had to overcome her deep fear of public appearances. She would have simply stuck with writing if only the editors at the time had been willing to let her write about the women's movement, she said. So she began speaking: at universities, in community centers, at rallies and demonstrations.

Even age could hardly slow her down. Long into her 80s, she traveled around the world and spoke out about issues that were close to her heart. These ranged from genital mutilation to reconciliation in Korea, but women's equality came first.

“Being a feminist means seeing the world as a whole and not just one half,” she once said. “It shouldn’t need a name, and one day it won’t.”

In 1972 she founded the magazine “Ms.” with. Men in particular described the magazine as ridiculous and predicted an imminent end to it. It is still published today and is published by the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Steinem's critics included US President Richard Nixon. On a tape recorded in the Oval Office, he could be heard complaining about both her and the title "Ms." made fun. The antipathy was mutual: in a speech to the National Press Club in 1972, Steinem called Nixon the "most sexually insecure head of state since Napoleon."

This was just one example of Steinem's humor. Before she married at age 66, she often explained her singleness by saying, “I can’t mate in captivity.”

Her eventful life was made into a film in 2020. In The Glorias, based on her 2015 memoir, she is played by Julianne Moore. Her memoirs are scheduled to be published this fall.