Women need to stop being complacent and start getting mad, Ms. magazine editor Gloria Steinem told an audience at the Chicago Campus’ Law School Auditorium on Saturday.
The women’s equality advocate complained that some of today’s young women “have such low expectations.”
“They still are walking around saying, ‘How can I combine career and family?'” Steinem said. “What we need is a world with men raising babies as much as women do.”
Since co-founding the feminist magazine Ms. in 1971, Steinem has written several books and toured, speaking about women’s rights. About 125 people listened to Steinem’s keynote address at an all-day symposium examining how advertising shapes the image of women.
The symposium, sponsored by the Advertising Educational Foundation, included presentations from 11 other female authors, professors and professionals.
In her 40-minute speech, Steinem encouraged audience members to “not just submit” to media images of women but to induce change instead. For example, she suggested, try quitting beauty magazines “cold turkey” for a few days.
“Try to look at real people,” she said. “Go to a steam room. Go to a health club. Not one of them looks like the bodies we are looking at in advertisements.”
Women also should avoid buying overpriced products solely for the brand name, she said, and should be skeptical of hidden advertising in magazines. Steinem also addressed the media’s “ideal of beauty.”
“When we’re thinking about the ideal of beauty, we kind of think there is one and we don’t meet it,” she said. “I find it helpful to know there isn’t one. We can look however we fucking well please.”
Steinem, 69, said anger prompted her to become a leader of the women’s movement during the ’70s.
“I got mad on my own behalf,” she said. “I want (women today) to get mad about what is happening to them. I’m hoping for a lot of pissed-off women in their 20s and 30s.”
Although the event was an hour-long El ride from the Evanston Campus, Steinem’s name made the trip worth it for some of its students.
“It seemed like an opportunity I shouldn’t be lazy and sleep through,” said Jessie Levin, a Medill sophomore. “People say that she’s changed their life, so that was enough reason for me to come down.”
Kathy Grantham, the deputy director of the Advertising Educational Foundation, said she thought Steinem’s message particularly applied to the students in the audience.
“Her message (today) is less radical, but it’s essentially the same,” she said. “You have to stand up for who you are and fulfill yourself and not let anyone else dictate that to you.”
Steinem also left an impression on several men scattered throughout the audience.
“I was really impressed by the fact that the actions that she advocated were a lot more conservative than I expected,” said Kyle Western, a Medill sophomore. “She offered principles and ideas that were very logical, and I think most people agree with.”
