Feminism Has A Layover In Minnesota

Gloria Steinem made the rounds in Minnesota today, starting with MPR’s Midmorning interview, a fund-raising lunch with womenwinning* and an odd video interview with the Star Tribune (in which we never see the interviewer).  I recommend the MPR interview - mostly because the Star Tribune’s starts with: “So, some might say that for American women in politics, it was The Best Year Ever… but what is The Most Important Thing that we still need to do?”

Many of the issues we hear Gloria address in these interviews are regarding people’s basic questions about feminism and an abbreviated understanding of sexism in American society.  Gloria Steinem is a very smart and very talented individual, so it is quite annoying to see her pigeonholed as the poster child for second wave feminism.  This also robs us of deeply exploring more current and perhaps relevant dialogue and scholarship about feminism, and challenging us to use a more third wave feminist lens.

Along these same lines, she does address (on MPR) the New York Times op-ed that was harshly criticized last year before the election… but I’ll let you listen yourself.

*Really, womenwinning?  Your name is two words squished together and half boldface?  Really?