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MPWGloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem on the Future of Feminism and Why the World Needs Her New Viceland Show

By
Jessie Van Amburg
Jessie Van Amburg
,
Motto
Motto
, and
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Jessie Van Amburg
Jessie Van Amburg
,
Motto
Motto
, and
Valentina Zarya
Valentina Zarya
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 5, 2016, 12:19 PM ET
Pennsylvania Conference For Women 2015
PHILADELPHIA, PA - NOVEMBER 19: Writer, activist Gloria Steinem speaks during a conversation on Impacting Social Change at Pennsylvania Conference For Women 2015 at Pennsylvania Convention Center on November 19, 2015 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/WireImage)Photograph by Gilbert Carrasquillo—WireImage

This article originally appeared on Motto.com.

Activist and author Gloria Steinem spoke to Motto on Wednesday about how she sees the future of feminism at a screening of part of her new documentary series, WOMAN. “That’s like being asked to describe the universe in two sentences!” she said.

“The future is each of us finding our voices to say what’s happening to us and what isn’t fair. The voice of feminism is every little girl in the world and boy who says two things. One: It’s not fair. And two: You’re not the boss of me.”

WOMAN, which Steinem created with Viceland network, follows stories of violence against women around the world, ranging from rape in the Congo to incarcerated women in the United States. In a Q&A session, she said about the series, “It is the closest thing I know to being there.”

When another reporter asked why Steinem decided to tell these stories through a TV series rather than in her normal outlets of writing and speaking, Steinem drew on her beginnings as an activist. “I started out as a writer, and I was very clear about one thing: I would never speak in public. Then I could never get published. … Only in despair, out of no other way to talk about the women’s movement, did I go and begin to speak. And in that way did I discover that as much as I love the printed page and books—and I do!—that it’s not the same as being in a room together.”

More from Motto:

  • I Tried to Lose Weight For Years. Here’s the One Thing That Worked
  • The Breathing Technique a Navy SEAL Uses to Stay Focused
  • 18 Behaviors of Emotionally Intelligent People

WOMAN premieres on Viceland on May 10 at 10 p.m.

About the Authors
By Jessie Van Amburg
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By Motto
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