Gloria Steinem, Feminist Icon and Journalist, Dies at 92

Gloria Steinem, the American feminist and journalist whose activism helped push for greater rights for women globally, has died. She was 92 years old.

A statement posted to her Instagram page said Steinem "passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her." The post added that her "near-century on earth were years well-lived" and that she continued working for equality until the end.

Public Tributes and a Personal Encounter

Outside Steinem's townhouse in Manhattan's Upper East Side on Thursday morning, passersby left flowers and other tributes. Debbie Goldberg, a local resident, placed red flowers by the door. Goldberg described Steinem as one of the most influential figures for women's and human rights in history. "She's a hero to all women whether they know it or not," Goldberg said.

Goldberg recalled seeing Steinem speak in Washington DC around three decades ago and later bumping into her while both were going to see the Barbie movie in 2023. Goldberg had planned to see Steinem speak at a local YMCA in the coming weeks.

From Trailer Park to Trailblazing Journalist

Born in Ohio in 1934, Steinem grew up in a trailer home. Her mother's mental illness and the hostility her mother faced as a working woman deeply influenced her. After graduating from a women's liberal arts college in 1956, she spent two years in India working as a legal clerk.

Upon returning to the US, she directed the Independent Research Service, a CIA front operation aimed at disrupting Soviet-controlled youth festivals. Steinem later stated she knew who funded the group and would "do it again." Her journalism career began in earnest in 1962 with a feature on contraception for Esquire magazine.

In 1963, she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny for 11 days to write an exposé on the treatment of models at Hugh Hefner's Playboy Club. The experience was physically grueling, and she reported losing ten pounds during the stint. After the article was published, she found it difficult to get work because she had "become a Bunny."

Founding Ms. And Defining a Movement

In 1968, she began writing for New York magazine. There, she coined the term "reproductive freedom" while covering an abortion "speakout." Having had an abortion herself at age 22, she described the event as a turning point. "I knew it was the first time I had taken responsibility for my own life," she told the Observer in 2011.

She credited Black feminists like Florynce Kennedy and Shirley Chisholm for teaching her the importance of activism. In 1971, she co-founded Ms. Magazine with Dorothy Pitman Hughes. The first issue featured Wonder Woman, arguing the superhero should be restored to her feminist roots. Steinem's provocative writing included articles like "If Men Could Menstruate."

She argued that sexism and racism were fundamentally intertwined. "You can't perpetuate racism without controlling women and reproduction," she said in 2017.

A Complex and Evolving Legacy

Steinem was also a polarizing figure. Some feminists felt the media anointed her as a leader because she was young, white, and attractive, a criticism she addressed in her 2015 memoir. She faced decades of criticism for a 1998 New York Times opinion piece defending President Bill Clinton against sexual harassment allegations. In 2017, she stated, "We have to believe women. I wouldn't write the same thing now."

She was also viewed as hostile to transgender rights due to a 1977 essay, a position she clarified in 2013 by stating transgender people are "living out real, authentic lives" that "should be celebrated, not questioned."

In her later years, she was a prominent critic of Donald Trump and co-chaired the 2017 Women's March on Washington. She told the Guardian that year that the activism galvanized by Trump was "a thousand times more" than anything she had seen before, including during the Vietnam War. In 2011, she told the Observer, "I hope to live to 100. There is so much to do."