Different Era, Same Fight: An Evening at Gloria Steinem’s Home
📸: Paola Chapdelaine L to R: (Top Row) Jill Heller, Jessica Valenti, Paola Mendoza, Sarah Burke, Katy Ho, Tarana Burke, Aisha Becker-Burrowes, Maya Siegel, Susan Swan, Deja Foxx, Annie Wu Henry, Divya Yeleswarapu,Tefi Pessoa, Rachel Cargle, Tazin Khan, (Bottom Row) Cassidy Howard, Jezz Chung, Ky Polanco, Gloria Steinem, Helina Metaferia
If you could dine with any feminist visionaries across time, who would you choose?
For one night at feminist icon Gloria Steinem’s New York City apartment, FEMINIST created that dream table in collaboration with co-hosts Deja Foxx and Annie Wu Henry. We gathered today's most dynamic feminist leaders from politics, art, media, fashion, culture and activism to celebrate Women’s History Month and spark revolutionary conversations about building our feminist future. Guests included Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, Rachel Cargle, founder of the Loveland Foundation, Jessica Valenti, founder of Abortion Every Day, and award-winning filmmaker and best-selling author Paola Mendoza.
The evening began with an inspiring roundtable discussion of the question: “When future feminists 'give you your flowers,' what specific contribution or impact would you most want them to recognize and celebrate?” We began imagining what a truly liberated world would look like, and the path to building a feminist future that centers love and grace. Next, we held a Q&A period with Gloria, and surprised her with a cake to thank her for her contributions to the feminist movement and celebrate her 91st birthday.
Here are 8 lessons we learned from this herstoric gathering of feminist visionaries:
1. Feminist media has helped to advance women’s rights across generations.
“There was only Ms., in a national sense. We were sending all of our authors out to publicize it city by city by city, because we were so afraid it was going to just lie there on the newsstand, nobody would put it up, and we would disgrace the women. But in fact, it sold out in eight days.”
In 1971, Gloria Steinem co-founded Ms. Magazine, the first national feminist publication in the United States. Ms. grew into a powerful platform for shifting public opinion on abortion rights and other issues linked to the women’s liberation movement. The success of Ms. Magazine showed that there has always been an appetite for feminist media, and continues to inspire our work today at FEMINIST.
2. Art is a powerful tool for shifting the collective consciousness.
“When we created V-Day, it was to create space for women and gender-expansive people. We’ve seen the power of art and activism: it creates culture, consciousness, community, and solidarity.”
Gloria’s apartment is a treasure trove of books and antiques, each telling a unique story about her activism journey. Art can be a powerful tool for marginalized voices to be heard, raising awareness and sparking conversations.
3. Fighting for liberation is a powerful way to honor our ancestors.
“We all have our role to play. Liberation is not being stuck in who they want us to be, but being ourselves. I know me better than anyone else knows me, and I can make decisions for myself and my community that are different from what cis White men historically decided for us. ”
When discussing what inspired our activism, many of us pointed to the past: ancestors who were freedom fighters, immigrants, refugees, survivors. Continuing the fight for liberation is how we honor everything our ancestors did for us and carry on their legacy.
Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too Movement shared wisdom and hope for the future.
4. Liberation and freedom are not the same.
“Liberation is different from freedom. I can be free individually, but liberation is tied to community.”
While freedom and liberation share similarities, they are not the same. Freedom is individual, while liberation is collective. Even if some of us are free individually, there is still a lot of work to be done to achieve collective liberation for all.
We gathered a group of feminist visionaries to come together to contemplate liberation and share how we’d like to be remembered in the future.
5. The fight for liberation must include grace.
“I do not want liberation if it doesn’t come from grace.
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Fighting for liberation requires grace. Everybody is coming to this fight with different perspectives and ideas; grace is what allows us to understand each other and come together as a collective.
6. Future generations inspire us to stay relentless in our fight for justice.
“I would love to be remembered as a good feminist, great cook, excellent mom, and someone who helped legalize unrestricted access to abortion. I hope they think of me as someone who was relentless, and propped up younger voices to be relentless as well. ”
When thinking about the legacy we want to leave, younger generations inspire us to stay true to our values and fight for a feminist future.
7. In divisive times, love keeps us united.
“It’s easy to be afraid, but to not give in to the fear takes a lot. Love is ultimately what should and must guide us.”
In times of division, political narratives are often driven by fear. Love helps to guide us out of the fear, bringing communities together and reminding us of what we are fighting for.
Pictures (L to R) Aisha Becker-Burrowes, Deja Foxx, Gloria Steinem, Annie Wu Henry, Tefi Pessoa
8. Staying grounded in the present gives us the strength to fight another day.
“I don’t think about death. I just think about my day-by-day and how wonderful it is to have all of you in my living room. I do think that age has one big gift which is living in the present.”
As Gloria reflected on her 91st birthday, she reminded us that aging is a gift, counteracting the negative stigma towards aging that the patriarchy has taught us. She expressed that turning 91 has taught her to value the beauty of staying present and appreciating each day we have.
