Books October 1995
Feminist fatale
A review of Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem by Carolyn G. Heilbrun.
Gloria Steinem, whose resentment of “the patriarchy” has not abated in thirty years, has aptly chosen her authorized biographer. Three years ago Carolyn Heilbrun noisily resigned her chair in Columbia University’s English department because, as a woman, she felt herself targeted. “In life, as in fiction,” Ms. Heilbrun told The New York Times, “women who speak out usually end up punished or dead. I’m lucky to escape with my pension and a year of leave.” The Times reporter ventured to remark that things were no longer so bad. Thirty-two years ago when Heilbrun had first come to Columbia there were no tenured female professors in the English department. Now eight of its thirty-two tenured professors and a majority of its junior professors are women. Heilbrun was not impressed. “Female doesn’t mean feminist,” she snapped. Having “survived” her...
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