Gloria Steinem's Life Between Art and Activism

The feminist icon insisted that women were not a niche audience — and proved it in 1971 with the start of an influential publication owned and operated by them.

Gloria Steinem overcame a fear of public speaking to become one of the most influential voices in the women’s rights movement. Her talent for making feminist ideas accessible to a broader audience helped bring about significant social change.

Steinem faced a problem familiar to many activist writers: how to live according to your political principles without sacrificing your art-or vice versa.

Everything that lives will eventually die. The problem is that in the spring of our youth, the end of our lives feels far away. Because of that, we become cocky and self-assured, casting aside belief in the consequences of the kind of regret that puts things in perspective and, at the end of our…