On a balmy Saturday afternoon in New York City, roughly 20 women had been instructed to confess the last thing that turned them on to Gloria Steinem.
On a balmy Saturday afternoon in New York City, roughly 20 women had been instructed to confess the last thing that turned them on to Gloria Steinem. It wasn’t a feminist fever dream, although it felt like one to be sitting in the clear living room of Steinem’s airy Upper East Side apartment, where women from all walks of life gathered to discuss the sex comedy Two Women, a progressive update of a 1970s sexploitation film hitting US theaters on April 24.
“I was worried that I was going to have to say something embarrassing,” said one attendee. “Like I watched a Heated Rivalry look-alike contest or something. But, actually, I had sex with my husband last night!” With that disclosure out in the open, the rest of the squirmy attendees subtly sank deeper into their seats, accepting Steinem’s orbit as a unthreatening space. Although at least one guest was admittedly nervous that a journalist was sitting in: “Off the record!” one woman shouted in my direction after detailing a sexy secret. (The conversation was conducted under Chatham House Rule, meaning participants were encouraged to share thoughts without their being attributed.)
When I last spoke to Steinem, about her forthcoming memoir An Unexpected Life, she emphasized the importance of spending extended in-person time with other people, “our parents, our friends, our neighbors. Hopefully, we’ll be really in the same room sometime,” the 92-year-old told me at the time.
Less than a month after our virtual meeting, Steinem made good on her promise, inviting me to the knickknack-adorned brownstone she’s called home for nearly 60 years for a salon featuring filmmakers, feminist advocates, and guests including actors, lawyers, producers, and columnists.
COMMENTS