Steinem understood more than half a century ago that patriarchal culture damages not only women, but men as well.
The global outpouring of sadness and gratitude after the death of feminist icon and Ms. cofounder Gloria Steinem is a fitting tribute to her historic stature and immense contributions to social change.
Most of the voluminous praise Steinem received (in life and death) has focused, of course, on the ways in which her activism affected countless women and girls. She and her cohort of feminist pioneers—which included her close friend and colleague, the writer and activist Robin Morgan, who died Sept. 5 at age 85—transformed the social landscape by challenging deeply rooted sexism in Western cultural, economic and political institutions.
Generations of women and girls, right up to the present, have benefited directly from the changes she helped catalyze—notwithstanding the current knuckle-dragging, right-wing, anti-feminist backlash.
But Gloria Steinem was also a powerful advocate for what used to be called—in a much less cynical era—“men’s liberation.” As long ago as the late 1960s, she argued publicly that men suffered incalculable harms from the constraints of patriarchal masculinity.
Steinem’s feminism was never confined to a single axis of identity. It was class-conscious, multiracial and rooted in the understanding that sexism, racism and economic inequality reinforce one another. Long before “intersectionality” gave that analysis a name, she argued that liberation required dismantling hierarchies of race, class and gender together.
Gloria’s politics reflected that expansive vision. A Democratic socialist and honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America, she built coalitions across movements and championed the leadership of Black and Brown women throughout her career decades before white feminist leaders were (rightly) expected to do that.
Far from seeking a comfortable place within the establishment, Gloria Steinem spent her life working to transform who held power, whose voices were heard and whose experiences mattered.
In fact, when I first engaged with feminist politics in the late 1970s and early ’80s, I was struck by how seamlessly Gloria Steinem navigated the complex relationship—and tensions—between left-wing movement activists and liberals in the broader progressive coalition.
The Famous Feminist Understood “Men’s Issues”
The reason I’m writing this—in the midst of a tsunami of commentary and reflection about this great woman’s life and accomplishments—is that relatively scant attention has been paid to the many ways in which Steinem changed men’s lives. For the better.
For most of her long years as a feminist activist, Gloria was a critical feminist voice in support of the emancipation of men. I’ll show you some of the receipts below.
But first, please allow me a caveat and a brief personal note: While Gloria Steinem achieved iconic status, she was human, and thus imperfect. I’m sure there are things she said and did over many decades of published writing and public activism that I, or others, might take issue with—including unflattering and perhaps unfair things she might have said about men, often for effect.
I say this, in part, because I know that anti-feminist men—and women—often search the archives for damning statements from feminists like Steinem in an effort to discredit and delegitimize them; in this case, to prove the old shibboleth that “feminists hate men.” (Editor’s note: Feminists do not hate men, and the idea that feminism is rooted in misandry is a misconception used to discredit the movement.)
This, in turn, helps bolster the absurd contention that men who appreciate, and even love, those feminists are suckers and fools.
Not surprisingly, defenders of the sexist status quo have accused feminists of being “anti-male” from time immemorial.
Similarly, men like me who stand up for women’s rights are routinely mocked across the right-wing infotainment complex as weak, self-hating wimps and “beta males.”
I’ve always considered this criticism not only wrong on the facts and logic, but also juvenile.
So let me be clear: I think Gloria Steinem’s life project was a gift to men and boys, as well as women, girls and nonbinary people. That doesn’t mean I have to endorse every position she ever took or every quip she ever made.
And now, the personal note: As a young man, I read many of Gloria’s books and essays and heard her speak in public a few times. I was always impressed by her generosity of spirit when it came to men. I never felt attacked or belittled as a man. I thought she had a great sense of humor.
Over the years, starting in my 30s, I had the opportunity to meet her briefly on a few occasions. I hope it doesn’t insult journalistic convention too much to say that it was a thrill.
Earlier this summer, I was scheduled to attend one of the legendary “talking circles” held at Gloria Steinem’s Upper East Side apartment in New York City. The vast majority of people who attended those gatherings were women.
The one I was invited to, organized by Janna Meyrowitz Turner of Antenna Up, was meant to assemble a group of men—including me, Terry Real, Ted Bunch and others who work in men’s health in its various forms. Gloria and her foundation held a similar session earlier this year with pro-feminist male leaders, including Equimundo founder and CEO Gary Barker.
The idea was that, as Meyrowitz Turner put it, American men have been unsure of their role in feminism, and many have been waiting for the invitation and permission to show up.
“The goal,” she said, “was a room of role models for other men, and the signal it would send to everyone that feminism is for everyone, and that the future is about all of us working better together.”
Unfortunately, the summer meeting was postponed until November. Alas, we won’t get to meet and speak with Steinem about the men’s health movement, its direct ideological and political ties to the feminist-led women’s health movement, and perhaps get some words of encouragement or advice for the struggles ahead.
Gloria Steinem Recognized the Harms Patriarchy Causes Men
Since her death, social media has lit up with heartfelt stories and testimonies, mostly from women, about Gloria’s impact on their lives. When men have weighed in with expressions of gratitude, it’s often been to thank her for helping to create a world in which their mothers, wives and daughters had a much better shot at pursuing their dreams.
For the record, this “better world” for women has been a tremendous boon for men and boys, too.
To cite just one of countless examples, think of all the boys who are traumatized by an adult man’s abuse and violence toward their mothers. The feminist-led movement against domestic violence—which Steinem supported throughout her life—was a lifesaver for many of those boys, most of whom later became men.
But what has largely been missing from men’s grateful accounts of Gloria Steinem’s good works are the ways in which her leadership contributed directly to improvements in men’s lives.
She did this, in part, by using her platform to articulate—in a very public way—the idea that patriarchal culture was damaging not only to women, but also to men of every ethnic and racial background and sexual orientation.
As one of the most prominent faces and voices of feminism in the world, Steinem created space for men to explore their complex relationship to power and privilege: its benefits, to be sure, but also the costs it exacts in terms of their emotional, relational, physical and mental health. And, of course, the violence that so many men perpetrate—not only against women, but also against one another and themselves.
Gloria wrote and spoke about all of this more than half a century ago. It should be noted that this was long before conservatives like Jordan Peterson and his fellow travelers in the manosphere showed up to attack feminists for neglecting boys and men and “demoralizing” them through their advocacy for women.
Gloria Steinem was also one of the first prominent feminists to express empathy for men—like me—who struggled with the question of what it means to be a strong man who supports gender justice and wants men to lead more connected and authentic lives.
In fact, Steinem’s ideas about the effects of patriarchy on men helped shape the modern pro-feminist men’s movement.
As early as 1969, she wrote in a famous New York magazine essay, “After Black Power, Women’s Liberation,” that “in the long run, women’s liberation will be men’s liberation, too.”
In 1974, Gloria wrote the introduction to Marc Feigen Fasteau’s The Male Machine. The book was one of the earliest by a man to apply a feminist lens to the ways in which traditional ideas about masculinity not only shaped individual men’s lives, but also had profound and detrimental institutional effects on fatherhood, sports culture and the workplace, as well as American foreign policy and other deeply consequential political matters.
In her introduction, Steinem wrote that the book might represent the feminist revolution’s “other half.” It might be, she said:
“The beginning of a whole new wave of both theory and activism. Whether out of positive choice … or painful necessity created by women’s changing roles, men are beginning to seriously question the price of being thought superior. It is not a change often recognized by the press: Hostility, the battle of the sexes and the culturally masculine concern with confrontation still make better copy. But this wave is as obvious as it is vital. The goals of the feminist revolution cannot be achieved without a humanization of both sex roles.”
In her writing and speaking, Gloria Steinem frequently noted that feminist change would accelerate if men pursued gender equality not because they were trying to help women, but out of enlightened self-interest.
In a 2010 speech at the University of Texas at Dallas, Gloria ran through a list of 10 ways feminism benefits men. The list included the idea that men’s life expectancy could increase by more than four years if we eliminated causes of death typically attributed to “masculine roles,” including deaths from violence, speeding and tension-related disease.
She also said that men could develop their capacities for raising children and discover talents for things not considered “masculine.” If they could be unhooked from the dominance hierarchies so prevalent in parts of male culture, Steinem argued, they would be saved from the self-loathing that comes from the need for control.
Her point was not that men as a group were “oppressed,” but that men as individuals had a lot to gain by being freed from the shackles of traditional masculinity. Gloria also made clear that while personal growth is important, there is no substitute for sustained social and political struggle to transform the institutions of economic and political inequality.
There’s no sugarcoating the sad fact that Gloria Steinem died during an era of vociferous backlash against gender and racial progress in this country. But she retained her positive vision until the end of her life.
In a conversation published in January 2026, Of Boys and Men author Richard Reeves asked Steinem whether she remained hopeful for the women’s movement and gender equality.
“Absolutely,” she replied. “Otherwise I would be giving up. Hello. I’m not going to do that.”
As a movement elder, Gloria was frequently asked in recent years to whom she would “pass her torch.” The question irritated her.
“I’m keeping my torch,” Gloria Steinem would say. “And I’m using it to light other people’s torches.”
I hope that one day, in the fullness of time, it will become clear that many of the torches this remarkable woman lit belonged to both women and men.
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Poll after poll shows a majority of Americans support reproductive healthcare access. Yet public debate overlooks the lives shaped by abortion access, contraception, IVF, miscarriage care, maternal healthcare or comprehensive sex education—countless women who chose to pursue an education, have children, not have children, protect their health and chart their own future. What’s your reproductive freedom story? Add your voice. Together, these stories will help show not only why reproductive freedom remains a majority value, but also what it makes possible.
