No let up, oof.

There's so much I want to unpack on the tragedy of the ongoing reversals of everything she fought for thanks almost entirely to the Heritage Foundation but I'm too exhausted.

People need to stay vigilant. It's what she would have wanted.

All the good people leaving while we're all left here to suffer...

RIP

A true trailblazer. Rest well.

Rest in peace to a true groundbreaker. One of the key figures in modern history

Another pioneering legend gone. She made the lives of so many women better knowing that they could decide their own destinies and not have to follow the status quo. Rest in power, queen

Unfortunately she was a bit of CIA psyop but she did inspire me to get money peice highlights. She's still an iconic figure in the feminist movement if ultimately not a particularly radical one.

RIP

RIP Legend

39 minutes ago, valleyofthedolls said:

Unfortunately she was a bit of CIA psyop but she did inspire me to get money peice highlights. She's still an iconic figure in the feminist movement if ultimately not a particularly radical one.

Now why am I getting downvoted. This is from her obit

"Returning to the US, she worked as the director of the Independent Research Service, a CIA front that recruited American students to disrupt the Soviet-controlled World Youth Festivals in Vienna and Helsinki. Steinem later revealed she had always known who was bankrolling the operation: "If I had a choice I would do it again."

This isn't like trying to cancel Dolly Parton. She's a political figure, we should acknowledge her complex legacy.

My condolences to the CIA, I hope they can get through this difficult time

Indeed an admitted CIA asset and to further what @valleyofthedolls was saying , she said of the CIA "I found them to be liberal, nonviolent () and honorable"

People have complicated legacies. Has she done good for the world, far more than any of us will ever / could ever hope to do? Sure. She also gave cover to probably the most evil US govt agency in existence and worked with them to promote "anti-communist" sentiment , which was often the CIA's excuse for going into predominately Latin American countries and overthrowing their governments …. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ just saying it's a lil more complicated than with someone like Dolly who was by all accounts a true, irrefutable force of good in the world

Rest easy, trailblazer. You did so much and I am sorry you had to witness it being undone by a terrorist dictator and his followers.

RIP to her. She did a lot of good to a lot of people but also a lot of damage.

As part of her work with the CIA, was her insistance on not advancing class consciousness and struggle, and her anti-communist stance. She only focused on gender, which without class consciousness/discourse/change, I'm afraid it is mostly posturing and neo-liberalism.

but oh wow at her being in bed with the CIA, not that I'm too surprised. For all the visibility and larger movement she facilitated, she always did come off as a bit of a normie to me. Who would be a good alternative feminist to get into in the wake of Steinem's passing?

1 minute ago, Mr.X said:

RIP to her. She did a lot of good to a lot of people but also a lot of damage.

As part of her work with the CIA, was her insistance on not advancing class consciousness and struggle, and her anti-communist stance. She only focused on gender, which without class consciousness/discourse/change, I'm afraid it is mostly posturing and neo-liberalism.

I think, Steinem, like a lot of people, simply focused on issues that were most pressing to her identity. She certainly believed in feminism, and her grandmother belonged to a suffrage movement. That her fight for equality didn't include class isn't unique. There are a lot of people whose beliefs of equality don't go beyond what would benefit them, I know a lot of communists and socialists who are misogynistic and homophobic. Of course this doesn't erase the work she did, but also her work with the CIA didn't involve overthrowing governments or the more sinister operations the organization has done in its history. However, her claiming she would still work with them despite all we know is disappointing. I don't think she was intentionally subversive with prioritizing feminism, she just happened to be a feminist who is not communist (like the majority of individuals across all equality groups) and who had short-lived ties with the CIA (very few can claim this). The CIA association is bound to taint her work, and for good reason, but multiple things can be true at once.

EDIT: This is a response to the Steinem posturing bit, and think one can believe in one side of equality and disregard the other. I agree with pretty much everything you've stated otherwise. Especially that gender without addressing class struggle amounts to little.

Edited September 3Sep 3 by lonnie

9 minutes ago, Sanctuary said:

but oh wow at her being in bed with the CIA, not that I'm too surprised. For all the visibility and larger movement she facilitated, she always did come off as a bit of a normie to me. Who would be a good alternative feminist to get into in the wake of Steinem's passing?

There aren't many highly visible feminists with marxist leanings. I think Angela Davis (who has her share of wrong standings) is probably the only popular one who's alive? But even then, I think it's usually more important not to fixate on an individual and elevate them to idol status. Especially where the socio-political is involved. There are many individuals in history who we can learn from, including Steinem with her flaws, without elevating them to be paragons of whatever ideals we have. They are human after all, and they're bound to disappoint you.

19 minutes ago, Mr.X said:

She only focused on gender, which without class consciousness/discourse/change, I'm afraid it is mostly posturing and neo-liberalism.

This is at the heart of so many current political battles happening on the American left so it's fitting.

To correct the record on what I mentioned earlier, the former doesn't outweigh the latter and whether the cons from the latter outweigh the pros from the former I guess is debatable.

I have been aware of them, to be clear.

why is it so hard to just say RIP

anyways, RIP icon