Steinem inspires U. crowd

Gloria Steinem is 60 years old. Although her age now matches the turbulent decade during which she went from being simply a female writer to an outspoken feminist, Steinem has only gotten better in the intervening years. She was on campus yesterday evening to promote Moving Beyond Words, a collection of six major essays just published in paperback by Touchstone Books. At an intimate book-signing and speech sponsored by The Book Store and the Penn Women's Center, Steinem -- founder of Ms. magazine and the Women's Political Caucus -- further explained issues raised in the book and took questions from more than 200 of the mostly female fans crowded into a ballroom at the Penn Tower Hotel. "I think a lot of us feel like we know each other," Steinem began, adding that she hoped each person in attendance would leave with a new friend, idea, fact or feeling of support. Steinem then spoke about the importance of voting and political activism, urging audience members to cast ballots "so that we will no longer be controlled by these [Republican] ayatollahs who [get] out 90 percent of their vote." Moving Beyond Words is a "very weird book," Steinem said, filled with essays so long that each -- like a plant -- might grow into its own volume if water were poured onto it. Steinem focused on the phenomenon of race and gender reversal, a device that allows individuals to see life from others' perspectives and about which Steinem has written extensively. Steinem also said women should continue pressuring legislators to consider work in the home -- maintaining a household and raising children -- a full-time job, with appropriate value attributed to it. "The census decides what is visible," she said. "The national system of accounts decides what is valuable. We can change these mega-systems. "We have to remember that the caste systems of sex and race are intertwined, and there is no way to fight one without fighting the other," Steinem added. Reflecting on the progress of the feminist movement, Steinem said women should be proud of what has been accomplished and hopeful about what lies ahead. In response to a question about feminism's future potential and vitality, Steinem said the movement has more appeal than ever before. "In my opinion, being a feminist in the '60s was a joke," she said. "[Now] this is a revolution, not a public relations movement -- not everybody's going to love us." Steinem urged attendees to recapture the free spirits of their youth that existed before each conformed to society's dictates regarding traditional women's roles. "So many issues attracted me to her -- she has such a wonderful insight into all phases of women," said Libby Harwitz, director of Editorial Services for Medical Center Development, who brought a photo of her and Steinem taken at a 1984 book-signing to yesterday's event.

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