Feminist icon Gloria Steinem to visit Toledo

Blade, The (Toledo, OH)

March 04--Feminist, journalist, and Toledo native Gloria Steinem has had a front row seat for the rise of the women's movement of the 1960s, the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision, followed by decades of writing, traveling, and advocacy, but it's in this moment she sees "more energy than ever" in political participation.

Ms. Steinem, 83, will be a special guest at a Wednesday fund-raiser for State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D., Toledo), who is running against State Rep. Michael Ashford (D., Toledo) for state Senate in the May 8 primary.

In a telephone interview with The Blade, she discussed the "Me Too" movement, women running for office, and the fate of the Toledo's last abortion clinic.

Why is it important for you to return to Toledo and support local candidates?

"Most of us have a deep feeling about where we spent our childhood or growing up years, and, for me, that's Toledo. So I have often come back in different ways and lately of course there was the issue of [Capital Care Network], one of the last remaining abortion clinics in that part of Ohio. I'm glad it remains open because it obviously endangers women's lives when such clinics are not available.

"Teresa is someone I have come to know over time. [She] is very important, a helpful influence and source of ideas and unification in the state legislature."

Capital Care is still waiting to see if its license will be revoked, even after a new transfer agreement with ProMedica. What does it mean for a community like Toledo when access to abortion services is jeopardized?

"The single biggest influence on a female human being's life is whether she can decide when and whether to give birth. It's the biggest determinant of whether she is healthy or not, whether she is educated or not, whether she works outside the home or not, and how long she lives.

"So at a very practical level, it's crucial. At a democratic level it's crucial because democracy begins with our ability -- women and men -- to decide the fate of our own bodies. And it's more contested for women because of reproduction but it's true for men too. The same groups that support reproductive choice would oppose involuntary testing or pressuring for organ transplants or any of the issues that affect the bodily integrity of men."

On the connection between access to reproductive health care and the Me Too movement:

"I think sometimes it's not connected in the coverage, but obviously the idea that our bodies belong to us applies to both reproduction and sexual harassment. No one has the right to pressure our physical selves against our will."

Do you see something different with this current movement and public attention to sexual abuse and harassment?

"It's not qualitatively different but it's quantitatively different. The term sexual harassment was coined by women at a conference in Ithaca, New York, in the early '70s to describe what happened to them on summer jobs. They coined the term sexual harassment. We, that is, Ms. magazine, did a cover story about it. We used puppets on the cover because we didn't want to be offensive, so we consciously used puppets as a kind of cartoon illustrating sexual harassment on the cover. And even so we were banned in supermarkets."

(She credits attorney Catharine MacKinnon, who argued sexual harassment was sex discrimination, as well as the Anita Hill hearing, and some of the first sex discrimination cases as early catalysts for progress.)

"There has been a steady increase in consciousness, prevalence of this injustice, appealing to the law, reforming employment practices, and so on. But only since Me Too has it passed the majority point. I think we're now at a tipping point where it is part of the majority consciousness."

Many of these stories come from the coasts -- powerful Hollywood men, or politicians and media executives in Washington and New York. Does it have the same effect in Midwest cities like Toledo?

"The main reason that it got publicity is that it happened to public figures. Statistically speaking, it happens to people of less power more [often]. It's more likely to happen to a waitress who is in a less powerful position and dependent on tips, than it is to a woman with more power in the world. The likelihood is that it's happening in everyday occupations of women in Toledo more than in Hollywood."

Do you see waning public interest for these news stories?

"The question isn't whether the movement has staying power, it's whether the media is being accurate. Unfortunately, for the media to say that sexual harassment is not news, it's like saying there are too many wars going on, so war is not news."

On the importance of female reporters breaking harassment stories, particularly the women journalists leading the New York Times' Harvey Weinstein coverage:

"I am not saying there are not great male reporters and not-so-great female reporters but in general, women reporters are more likely to understand such stories and know how to investigate them because it's within their life experience.

"The presence of female journalists makes a difference ... having the experience makes a difference, and that's what broke the Harvey Weinstein story."

On comedian Abbi Jacobson's portrayal on a recent Comedy Central Drunk History episode about Ms. Steinem's undercover reporting in a Playboy Club and the staying power of her 1963 magazine piece "A Bunny's Tale":

"She did a great job, I think what she did was way better than my article!

"The idea that the story about the Playboy Club would have lasted more than 50 years, I never would have ever predicted. The Playboy clubs were outdated even when they existed. By the '60s they were quite outdated. Hugh Hefner was a parody of himself long before he died. You can't imagine Millennials interested in going to a Playboy Club.

"I was finally enlightened by feminist academic who said to be this story of infiltrating as a Bunny and writing about it [was a paradigm for] women infiltrating and changing the patriarchy."

More women are running for office in 2018 than any previous year. Has President Trump been a permanent game-changer in this regard?

"Obviously, it has a different impact on different people. I think the impact on women in general, of seeing a documented, self-confessed harasser in the White House has increased the anger and energy level to bring cases and to also run for office. ... It's way more energy than I've ever seen in my life. Spontaneous people running for office who may not have voted before but now see how crucial the governmental process is."

That includes local and statewide elections, which Ms. Steinem said have been historically under-valued:

"If there is a political mistake that the women's movement and other social justice movements have made, it's paying too little attention to state legislatures."

The interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Ms. Steinem will be in Toledo beginning at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday for the fund-raiser at the Toledo Club, 235 14th St. Ticket information is available at teresafedor.com.

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