Gloria Steinem speaks in Hartford

Gloria Steinem Speaks in Hartford

By Nora Murphy

Senior Editor

n Wednesday, November 8th, the Hartford Club organized a gala event featuring the most prominent feminist speaker of our time. Sponsored by the regional group WomenConnect, a network of organizations and individuals to support women's issues, Gloria Steinem spent the evening in Hartford. Of course, attendance to this occasion had a heavy price tag. To attend the lecture alone, it cost $35, drinks with Gloria before the lecture cost $75, and the full dinner, drinks, and lecture package ran above $150 - a weighty price to pay to hear a woman whose lifetime devotion has been equal opportunity for women. This is ignoring the fact that the lecture was held in Hartford, a city with over 40% of its population in poverty. Despite some of these initial obstacles, the chance to hear Ms. Steinem speak was seized. I and two other Trinity students attended the lecture-only portion of this event. Seeing Ms. Steinem immediately demonstrated the obvious reasons as to why she is such a well-known, respected individual in her field. The ease in which she opened her discussion instantly relaxed the room. I assumed that the experience she had in dealing with such situations, along with the knowledge that she was most likely being paid a large sum, contributed to this ability. Ms. Steinem spoke conversationally and personally about many current issues and covered a wide range of topics related to feminism today.
To begin with, she received an enthusiastic round of applause to the initial statement, "Patriarchy doesn't work anymore." Her ensuing dialogue used many women's issues to highlight this point. Particularly targeting the conservative right that presently controls the American congress, as well as religious zealots who demand 'morality,' Ms. Steinem pointed out that these groups often refer to a family as a single unit, as if there is one type of family that is acceptable. Rather, a more appropriate term would be families, implying that there are many different types that exist in our society. Furthermore, she believes that we are breaking away from once traditional patterns of families that existed in the past. Today, we are living longer, experiencing more, given many opportunities that past families did not have. As we break loose from these patterns of the past, we realize that there are many different paths to take and divorce may be one of these passages. Ms. Steinem claimed that the nuclear family is "the function of industrialization." As we move away from the age of industrialism, she acknowledged that "we are making families in many ways." While those who cling to hierarchies and patriarchy tell us that these ways are wrong, we need to accept these different types of families as equal as opposed to a singular archetype. Much laughter accompanied her statement that the moral 'majority' and the religious right are precisely the people our European ancestors were trying to get away from.
Ms. Steinem also addressed the issue of violence in our society today. For example, she cited the many ways in which sex and violence are presented as integrally linked. The phrase 'crime of passion,' one frequently used by the press, does not exist in actuality. There is no such thing as a crime of passion. Rather those types of crimes are crimes of possession. She blamed the state of violence as having roots in the home. That is, Ms. Steinem believes that original violence, violence in the home, is the source of all violence. Once this type of behavior, this violence to declare possession, is removed, our society will be much more peaceful. "The only form of arms control is how we raise our children."
Basically, Ms. Steinem was portraying the message that we need to view all issues, such as violence and perceptions of the family, in context. Instead of laundry-listing all of the issues as we face them today in separate categories, we need to realize that they are all connected in one way or another. While the conservative right is continually pushing the idea of maintaining 'morals,' we should believe that no matter what we do, everything we do matters. We need to participate in our democratic processes. The United States is the least participatory democratic country in the world, meaning the least percentage of voters turn out for elections. Ms. Steinem challenged us to "Do something revolutionary, raise a feminist son." While once feminism fought to prove that women can do everything that men can, today we need to shift that focus to show that men can do everything women can do. Throughout many areas of her speech, Ms. Steinem was greeted with applause, laughter, approval and agreement.
While the above can only begin to describe her power and passion, it is also only a short synopsis of the speech presented. However, towards the close of her discussion before the audience began their questioning, Ms. Steinem ended with one short analogy. Many of us can understand that "the flap of a butterfly wing here can affect the weather hundreds of miles away." We need to realize that we are all butterflies - our actions do make a difference.