10 Gloria Steinem Books and Essays

Gloria Steinem is an activist from Toledo, Ohio, who has championed equal rights in her work as a writer, journalist, lecturer, and organizer. Gloria receives credit for having coined the term “reproductive freedom.”

Police have arrested Gloria twice for civil disobedience while she was participating in protests. In 1984, officials arrested Gloria outside of the South African Embassy in Washington, DC, while she was protesting its then policy of apartheid. Police arrested her again in DC in 2019 at #FireDrillFriday, a weekly event meant to draw attention to climate change.

Gloria is the recipient of high-profile awards for her work, including the National Women’s Hall of Fame (1993), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2013), the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Award (2013), and the Princess of Asturias Award (2021).

In her fight for women’s rights, political activist Gloria Steinem has led several notable organizations, including:

• Gloria’s Foundation: This organization seeks to support the feminist movement by ultimately acquiring Gloria’s home and maintaining it as a space for community, activism, and collaboration.
• Ms. Foundation for Women: This organization invests in women-led grassroots groups and advocates for policies that will support women.
• Ms. magazine: Gloria and child welfare advocate Dorothy Pitman Hughes founded this American feminist publication to cover topics important to women.
• National Women’s Political Caucus: According to its own literature, this grassroots organization “recruits, trains, and elects progressive and pro-choice women to elected and appointed office.” Gloria was one of more than three hundred women who established the caucus; the other co-founders include attorney Bella Abzug, politician Shirley Chisholm, and author Betty Friedan.
• Women’s Media Center: Along with actor and activist Jane Fonda and journalist and activist Robin Morgan, Gloria founded this center to advocate for better representation of women in the media.

Gloria Steinem’s body of written work includes essays, articles, and books that are significant to women’s history and the women’s liberation movement, including:

1. 1. “The Moral Disarmament of Betty Coed” (1962): Esquire published this essay from Gloria about college students and their views on sexuality, with a special focus on contraception. One year later, author Betty Friedan touched on many of the same themes in her book The Feminine Mystique (1963).
2. 2. “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation” (1969): Gloria’s groundbreaking essay appeared in New York magazine in April 1969. The attention the essay garnered made it possible for Gloria to become a powerful voice in the campaign for the Equal Rights Amendment.
3. 3. “If Men Could Menstruate” (1978): The American feminist magazine Ms. published Gloria’s enduring essay in October 1978, a piece of writing significant to feminism and the equal rights movement.
4. 4. Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions (1983): This book brings together some of the feminist activist’s most timeless and significant essays, including a tribute to her mother and the exposé “I Was a Playboy Bunny” about Gloria’s employment at the Playboy Club in New York.
5. 5. Marilyn: Norma Jean (1986): Gloria examines Marilyn Monroe, reflecting on the woman who became first a public figure and later an icon of both cinema and a specific time in United States history.
6. 6. Revolution From Within (1992): For this book about social justice, Gloria chose self-esteem as her central subject matter. She discusses how societal injustices can undermine people regardless of their race, class, age, sexuality, or ability.
7. 7. Moving Beyond Words (1994): For this book, Gloria wrote six brand-new essays that reflect on “age, rage, sex, power, money, muscles,” and “breaking boundaries of gender,” as she writes on her cover.
8. 8. As If Women Matter: The Essential Gloria Steinem Reader (2014): In this collection, editor Ruchira Gupta puts forth essays by Gloria on the many facets of feminism that are relevant to India and other developing countries—as well as to developed countries like Gloria’s home country of the United States of America. Gloria’s remarks draw on her experiences in India, where she studied for two years in the late 1950s after receiving the Chester Bowles Fellowship.
9. 9. My Life on the Road (2015): Gloria’s book draws connections between the revolutionary women’s movement and physical travel while discussing her moments of personal growth throughout her lifetime.
10. 10. The Truth Will Set You Free, But First It Will Piss You Off! (2019): As Gloria states on this book’s cover, this illustrated collection of her essays and famous quotations discusses her “thoughts on life, love, and rebellion.”

Feminism is an intersectional movement with a focus on issues that touch every part of our lives, including reproductive rights, workplace culture, and caregiving. Gain access to exclusive videos on feminism with the MasterClass Annual Membership and get a crash course from leaders Gloria Steinem, Amanda Nguyen, Tina Tchen, and adrienne maree brown.