The headlines comemorating the death of Gloria Steinem left out one very salient episode of her career

 

 

JEFFREY ST. CLAIR 

+ Many of the headlines commemorating the death of Gloria Steinem at 92 read like this: “Feminist icon, trailblazer, journalist.” They leave out one very salient episode of her career: her years as a paid CIA operative running the anti-communist Independent Research Service in the late 50s and 60s. There was, of course, nothing “Independent” about the “service.” It was an agency front group, fully funded by the CIA. The “research” it did was on left-leaning student activists, often conducted by sending undercover operatives to spy on their activities on campuses and at youth festivals. Though Steinem eventually cut ties with the Agency, her brand of feminism downplayed class-based politics.

+ After Gloria Steinem (RIP) was photographed at numerous social outings with Henry Kissinger in the late 1960s and early 1970s, she got so much flak from members of her own nascent feminist movement that she felt compelled to distance herself from speculation that she’d been “dating” the blood-stained diplomat, who once claimed that “power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” When asked about Steinem’s denial that she was his “girlfriend,” Kissinger replied that he still felt hopeful she’d eventually submit to his, uh, charms: “After all, she did not say that if nominated she would not accept, or if elected she would not serve.”

+ Steinem defended Bill Clinton against every allegation of sexual misconduct, including rape, claiming that all of his “advances” had been “welcome.” She later defended her support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primaries over Sanders, who many younger women were enthusiastically backing, by saying condescendingly, “When you’re young, you’re thinking, ‘Where are the boys?” The boys were with Bernie.

 

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