-by gloria steinem
1983
A collection of essays written during the rebirth of the feminist movement in the 70s, from someone who was at the swirling center - a journalistic observer who became the movement's prime mover. Some of the pieces are dated, a few are unexceptional, but most still resonate with startling urgency and immediacy. The most memorable piece takes on marilyn monroe, and deconstructs why american women reacted so ambivalently to her - how dare she so intentionally embody (and make sexy) the needful vulnerability all women feel at some point in their lives? Gloria later devoted an entire book to the subject. The piece for which steinem gained journalistic fame, her investigative expose of life as a bunny waitress during the glory years of the Playboy Club, today seems almost timid and tepid (a sign of hard-won cultural progress). "Sisterhood" is a blueprint for the questions every female child should ask about her place in the world. "Ruth's Song", the most haunting and powerfully-written piece, tries to piece together the scattered fragments of gloria's mother - a vibrant woman who achieved an editorial post that men strive for, only to fall into profound dependence and institutionalization in her thirties. The piece is a must-read for anyone who clings to the notion that feminism is unnecessary, or a punchline. Hitler's racism gets all the press, but gloria offers a harrowing analysis of nazi sexism, and the parallels in american culture. "Far From the Opposite Shore" may make even lifelong feminists feel unaware or complicit in the dehumanization of women. "Words and Change", "In Praise of Women's Bodies", "Men and Women Talking", and "Erotica vs. Pornography" all burn brightly. To read this book today forces one to ask whether the cause of women's rights has backslid...and are modern women almost as much to blame as men? It's all too easy to see how much has changed, yet how little is different...and it's hard to find voices shouting about it.
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