The Latest on Slut-Shaming + Bodily Autonomy

Update: Gloria Steinem died on September 2, 2026, one month after I wrote this piece. May her memory be for a blessing.

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem reflected on her life and legacy with author, television producer, and friend Amy Richards at the Minetta Lane Theatre in NYC's West Village. Across two evenings, they talked about Gloria's college years, her time living in India, her work as an investigative journalist, decades of political organizing, and the relationships she built along the way, from her college boyfriend to Alice Walker and Wilma Mankiller.

I had the great privilege of meeting Gloria a number of times. In the early 1990s, in my first job after graduating college, I worked as an editorial assistant to the author and journalist Gail Sheehy. Gail and Gloria were friendly colleagues. (Gail's husband, Clay Felker, had founded and edited New York Magazine, where Gloria had started her career as a journalist in the 1960s, and he funded the first issue of Ms. Magazine in 1972 as an insert to New York.) Gail and Gloria would call each other up and loan each other books and magazines, so I occasionally went over from Gail's office on east 57th street to Gloria's townhouse on east 73rd street to pick up or return various items. Gloria was always warm, kind, and generous to me — the lowly editorial assistant — and I did my best to not appear star-struck.

I met Gloria a number of times again after that period through my mentor, women's health activist and author Barbara Seaman (1935 - 2008), and through my friendships and working relationships with Jennifer Baumgardner, an editor at Ms. who became an activist, author, and editor, and Amy Richards. Again, Gloria was unfailingly curious and friendly to me. That she had reached a stratospheric level of global fame yet remained kind to "regular" people like me is remarkable and should serve as a lesson to us all.

But back to the two-evening event in July 2026 at the Minetta Lane Theatre. Actor Keri Russell, writer Veronica Chambers, and other notable women read aloud excerpts of Gloria's correspondence with people in her life, such as Jane Fonda. One unexpected and fascinating moment was hearing the pitch letter Gloria sent a Vogue editor in the 1960s, proposing an article on the bathroom décor of celebrities.

A highlight for me was hearing Gloria reminisce about her groundbreaking 1963 undercover assignment as a "playboy bunny" — a cocktail waitress at the New York Playboy Club, a job that required her to squeeze into a tight rabbit costume. Her exposé in Show Magazine revealed the sexual objectification, humiliation, and financial exploitation that women working in the service industry had to endure.

The audience had the opportunity to ask Gloria questions at the end of each performance. The first question on the first evening was not about Gloria's fearless writing or activism. I was shocked to hear a woman ask: "What do you think about the way young women dress today?"

Gloria didn't hesitate.

"Women," she said, "should be able to dress any fucking way they want."