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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWe are women. We are still fighting after all these years.
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My, how we have aged, look at us. Look at us because we are beautiful and strong and determined.
How Gloria Steinem Reacted When People Called Her 'Pushy' In 1971
Gloria Steinem broke down the double standards powerful women face -- all the way back in 1971.
Resurfaced by WifeyTV in honor of Steinem's 81st birthday this past Wednesday, a 1971 CBC Archives clip shows the feminist writer and activist reacting to critics who call her "pushy" and a "bitch." In the interview, CBC director Carl Charlson plays Steinem a recording of an acquaintance talking about the criticisms she often hears about Steinem.
The voice on the recording says that Steinem is often assumed to be a "real bitch" and "very aggressive and pushy." "Everybodys always asking me about what kind of girl is she?" the woman on the recording says. "You know they have these whole preconceived ideas of [a] girl who gets to where Gloria is in life, what one has to do."
snip
Far too often, women are penalized for being seen as "pushy" or "bitchy." The idea that a woman can't make it to the top of her field while also being nice continually perpetuates sexism in the workplace. And, sadly, this isn't a new concept if Steinem was dealing with it nearly 45 years ago.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/27/gloria-steinem-pushy-1971_n_6954650.html
Angela Davis speaks on struggles of feminism
"In 1971, I was in jail," said Davis, drawing scattered laughter from the crowd. "While I was in jail, I tried to participate as much as possible in movements that were unfolding in the so-called free world ... There was a huge reproductive rights rally scheduled in San Francisco. I was in Marin County, just across the Golden Gate Bridge.
"I was asked to write a statement that very specifically engaged with the issue of abortion rights. Of course, I was in favor of women's abortion rights, but I did not want to take women's abortion rights out of the context of the broader conglomeration of issues that constitute women's reproductive rights.
"At that time, we had learned that vast numbers of Native American women had been sterilized. We'd also learned about the extent to which Puerto Rican women were used as guinea pigs by pharmaceutical companies in the production of what was then the new birth control pill. So, I wrote a statement in which I tried to make connections between women's reproductive rights and women's right to be free from forced sterilization. The statement wasn't read.
"My position was, I cannot talk about abortion rights in isolation from these other issues. I've come to understand that when we talk about feminist epistemologies, we speak precisely about the ability to think, together, about things that often do not cohabit the same analytical space."
http://www.peoplesworld.org/angela-davis-speaks-on-struggles-of-feminism/
brava~
We are rising up again and again and again.Help us.
Edit to add.
We are not as pretty as we were back then. Yes we have aged. Yet our spirit is ageless. We are forever young in our quest.

Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)I saw someone with that exact bumper sticker as I was walking home from class. That idea isn't just true for women's rights, but for other topics, too. The average elected official starts to listen only when people make noise--whether it's through money, numbers, or sometimes even through violent protests and civil disobedience.
sheshe2
(81,533 posts)I agree, it is about all of us. Each group has to fight together. Alone we lose. We will lose if we ignore another persons loss. Their rights, their dignities, their civil rights. Collectively we can win. My dearest desire is we win this. Maybe I am stupid, I hope I am not.
calimary
(79,197 posts)sheshe2
(81,533 posts)If we refuse to, we lose. I don't believe any of us are refusing, yet we need to coordinate.We all need to talk, we need to stand up for each other and make our voices heard. I have said this before, no one group can stand alone. We need each other. We need each other desperately!
'
The fricking forces of evil that are coming after us all need to be dealt with. They need to be struck down and we need to do it together.
calimary
(79,197 posts)I am SICK AND TIRED of women STILL being shown to the back of the bus. And to think there are people in this day and age who would actually go so far as to take our right to VOTE away. I've heard them speak about it. They've sure succeeded in taking our sovereignty over our very bodies away. It just makes me OUTRAGED!!!
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GOD I love this photo. This woman sure speaks for me! And it just burns - when I think of just HOW MANY different issues fit onto that protest sign of hers! I, Too, Cannot Believe I STILL Have To Protest This Shit!!
sheshe2
(81,533 posts)Fricking Racism! Don't Shoot. Michael....all
And yes,women don't have to be black to sit at the back of the bus anymore. We are there as well. We always have been there with our sisters. We have always been TOLD WHERE WE CAN SIT and when we can speak. I am sick of it. GOP wants to fuck us over. They want us to be their Stepford Wives. Not in my life time.
The video, calimary
Rising Up~
We are rising up, once again. Yes we are older, yes we are tired, yet we rise.
Then, the young ones need to lend a hand.
calimary
(79,197 posts)You wax so lyrical. I love singing along! Maybe I'll add a little harmony.
sheshe2
(81,533 posts)
niyad
(107,865 posts)
calimary
(79,197 posts)Cuz I'm gonna drop it into my posts too - just like I've done with the first one! THANK YOU niyad! FABULOUS find!
These women BOTH speak for me. This is EXACTLY how I feel. Almost 62 years old and I TOO Cannot Believe I STILL Have To Protest This Shit!
As a matter of fact, if I go back out to a protest rally, I think I'm gonna make my own sign with those same words on it. We should start a trend. I'm thinking I want one of those, too!
niyad
(107,865 posts)haikugal
(6,476 posts)Still fighting for ourselves our daughters, grandchildren and women all over the world. We can never stop, we can never stop because the price is so high. I'm so proud of all of us, us oldies and the young coming up! We rock
Thanks for the stroll...
sheshe2
(81,533 posts)I want her to have it all. All that we fought for and never had ourselves.
niyad
(107,865 posts)publishes an article with the oh-so-hopeful title "is feminism dead?" my response is, "not so long as I draw breath!
haikugal
(6,476 posts)Queen Boudica had the right idea in my view. Shoulder to shoulder we stand!
SomeGuyInEagan
(1,515 posts)I can't believe - now with a nine-year-old daughter - that I am seeing the same shit that I was seeing 40 years ago.
Passing the ERA should be the centerpiece of the platform of any Democratic candidate for national office, imo.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)

misterhighwasted
(9,148 posts)Good read & great information.
Truth of that era is that we are still here demanding the same thing.
It did take these courageous women to to take hold of the torch passed on by the women before them.
This was the time in history that influenced the strong remarkable women like Hillary Rodham Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Barbara Boxer, & so many great fighters.
This is who they are & they have dedicated their lives to beating against those same barriers untill they broke through.
Honored & humbled to see the distance they have all traveled since then, personally & in their professions.
In honor of Steinem & Davis it is due time that women who hold their similar societal beliefs, be seated as World Leaders.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)that by oppressing you I am oppressing me.
But it is the truth. If women are not free then men cannot be free.
thanks sheshe
Lifelong Protester
(8,421 posts)Still fighting the good fight, and cannot believe I still have to protest this sh**.
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)appalachiablue
(40,124 posts)Heard someone said that I reminded them of Gloria once which is amazing, dumbfounding and not even close but nice. Wish I'd met her, saw Angela speak at a college lecture when I was in HS, what an incredible woman. Terrific times those were-
cilla4progress
(23,944 posts)More beautiful than EVER!
Cha
(291,624 posts)ismnotwasm
(41,730 posts)K&R
Number23
(24,544 posts)equal rights fight?
'Gloria Steinem Says Black Women 'Invented The Feminist Movement'
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/23/gloria-steinem-black-women-invented-feminist-movement_n_6922952.html
The money quote:
When Tisdale asked Steinem what she would tell black women who said the feminist movement isn't about them or doesn't speak to them, Steinem replied, "I don't say anything. I listen."
Holy shit.




I have no idea what the hell is going on in Indiana right now. I thought Arizona was the Capital of Right Wing Crazy but apparently there is a new contender.
sheshe2
(81,533 posts)I listen, she said that. I listen!!!! She is 80 damn years old, eight years younger than my mom, who is pretty cool. Steinem has a hell of a lot more smarts than people here. Number23, She takes the time to listen.
Ya heard that....SHE LISTENS!
She didn't dis Angela, she listened, she listened!!!!
Yup we have more crazy in Indiana and elsewhere. Ya know what. Please, we need to do this together, somehow we need to do this. LGBT RIGHTS EQUAL RIGHTS POC RIGHTS WOMEN'S RIGHTS EQUAL RIGHTS FOR US ALL.
The awesomeness. I bow to her beauty and grace. I bow to both of them.
Number23
(24,544 posts)I know exactly what you're saying. It just blew my mind when I read that. So simple and yet so UTTERLY fucking powerful.
"I listen."
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)sheshe. Men have messed up a lot of shit in this world, but women are foolish to wait for men to fix it. That is not to diminish men's responsibility. I would love to see the ERA take off once again. I think Sen Warren would be a great champion.
sheshe2
(81,533 posts)nope, we are not waiting for men to fix it, yet we are thrilled when you lend your voice. ya know, each and everyone of us has a woman in their life. their mother, sister, wife, aunt, niece, friend, more. One voice is lonely, two are stronger, three we get louder, four....it goes on. we can only fight this together, all of it, all the issues. their are so many and they are all important and yes, they are intertwined. cause and effect.
thank you for your response, rhett.
marym625
(17,997 posts)Gloria Steinem and Angela David are stunningly beautiful, inside and out and always will be.
These women were and my heroes, my mentors. They are what I grew up with. They were why I started my teen years meeting with my state representatives to push for the ERA to be passed. They are constant, consistent, fighters for right.
Decades of fighting and instead of progress, we have to fight harder.
K&R!
longship
(40,416 posts)And I was born in the 40's.
It helped that I had two sisters, one twin, one older. Both my father and I were happy to let the women rule in the house. In my household, that was called love. And it was that plus a sense of equality for all.
R&K
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)AND Art.
If I could give this a zillion kicks and recs, I would.
Give 2 zillion.
You convey a LOT of meaning with this, she. Srsly.
many times.
sheshe2
(81,533 posts)
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)
❤
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)
eridani
(51,907 posts)lovemydog
(11,833 posts)Cha
(291,624 posts)
yep ... great quote!
F4lconF16
(3,747 posts)Thanks for your tireless posting, sheshe2.
Response to sheshe2 (Original post)
F4lconF16 This message was self-deleted by its author.
intheflow
(28,168 posts)Lots of people make that mistake, including the NY Post editorial screen capture you included in your OP.
http://www.critical-theory.com/whoops-new-york-post-columnist-cant-tell-black-people-apart/
http://jimromenesko.com/2014/01/06/new-york-post-columnist-mistakes-dorothy-pitman-hughes-for-angela-davis/
Here's the original photo with proper attribution from the Smith College archives: http://www.smith.edu/libraries/libs/ssc/agents/steinemhughes.html
Here's a little write-up on the recreated photo in 2014:
http://nagonthelake.blogspot.com/2014/10/gloria-steinem-and-dorothy-pitman.html
Edited to add: "We are women. We are still fighting after all these years." But black women are still fighting to just be recognized, apparently.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)and all women.
We don't want special rights, we want equal rights! No one person is any more special or any more saved or any more deserving than anyone else!
Thanks for your exceptional post sheshe.
mother earth
(6,002 posts)
colsohlibgal
(5,268 posts)Truth!
MarianJack
(10,237 posts)PEACE!
qwlauren35
(5,773 posts)There is a group, I don't know what it's called, that tries to champion the rights of pregnant women. When I saw the types of things they were fighting for, it really nudged me toward "pro-choice". When women make the choice to become or stay pregnant, a lot of bad things can happen to them. They are more physically vulnerable - especially in abusive relationships, they can lose their jobs, they may not get adequate health care.
So, women's reproductive health is actually bigger than JUST abortion, or even access to birth control. It also encompasses the issues of pregnant women.
When men trod on women's reproductive concerns, they are affecting a lot of women, married women as well as single women. And it saddens me that more women don't stand up and say "Stop treating us like children, stop disenfranchising our voices, stop putting us second economically, stop ignoring our medical concerns".
What I really, really wish is that more married women would stand up and say "I use birth control, it's important to my marriage, and it should be covered as part of my health benefits." Having single women talk about needing birth control does us no favors.