How Gloria Steinem Ushered in a New Age of Media

Gloria Steinem was a women's rights activist who rose to prominence in the late 1960s and 1970s. She is most known for founding Ms. Magazine in 1971. This magazine combined writing from New York female journalists who published opinions on topics ranging from civil rights and economics to politics and domestic life from feminist perspectives. The women working for Ms. fought for reproductive rights and to break free from them a mold society had previously kept them in according to msmagazine.com.

Steinem passed away on Sep. 2, 2026 at the age of 92. After the announcement came to the public from Steinem's Instagram page, it was requested that donations be made to Gloria's Foundation as well as candles lit to honor her life, according to NBC News.

Abby Woods '94, a Westlake School for Girls alumna who heard Steinem speak in person and now works for her self-founded magazine: Cue the Culture, said she draws inspiration from Steinem's legacy.

"My magazine, Cue The Culture, focuses on the voices of black social media influencers and black social media creators," Woods said. "Magazines aren't as popular as they were when Steinem was coming up, but her boldness still gives courage to other writers. She gives courage to other people who are still putting out magazines, still putting out and publishing blogs, and having conversations that for so many years, were hidden. We [women] just didn't discuss anything, and she busted down that door."

In the first issue alone, Ms. tackled headlines that read like curse words as they rolled off the tongue according to ThoughtCo. "We Have Had Abortions" was not only an admittance of something that was still illegal in the majority of the U.S.A. but doubled as a petition calling for action against the standards set in place to control women's reproductive rights before Roe v. Wade. Satirical pieces such as ‘I Want a Wife' outlined the roles women had in the domestic sphere and the fact that the work was far too much for one person, but still completely overlooked by their husbands.

Ms. was the first national American magazine that was owned, fully run and self-edited by women, which brought the more underground ideas of contemporary feminism into the mainstream media in the 1970s and 1980s. Steinem stood as not only the co-founder but in many ways as the face of Ms. through her popularity and writings, according to Irma Mcclaurein at Ms.

Woods said she believes Steinem grabbed audiences' attention back when she spoke and still does to this day.

"[Steinem] commanded your attention," Woods said. "She did that in her writing or in her speeches, or just literally walking through a sea of women. And even with her passing, yes, there's this dust up of controversy and everything like that. And I'm thinking, even in death, she is commanding your attention."

-Written by Teen Press Corps Member Gyan Z.