Two Democrats are demanding that Homeland Security officials fund election security ahead of the midterms. And, trail-blazing journalist Gloria Steinem has died.
The news that Gloria Steinhem died is just tucked into this other story??
How long before a prominent Republican says something awful about her?
Already saw someone on Lemmy dismiss everything she’s done for feminism because of the CIA connection early in her career.
Maybe I replied to that a few minutes ago.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, before she became a leading figure in the feminist movement, Steinem worked for an organization called the Independent Service for Information (ISI). It was later revealed that the ISI was funded by the CIA.
During the Cold War, the CIA engaged in various programs to fund “non-governmental” organizations, student exchanges, and information services to promote Western-aligned perspectives and counter Soviet influence abroad.
She never denied that the organization she worked for received CIA funding. She has been quite open about it in interviews and her writings. Her defense has generally been twofold: She was aware of the funding: She has stated that she knew the money came from the CIA and that the agency’s goal was to promote a specific type of international information exchange. She was not an “agent”: She maintains that she was not a “spy” or a “plant” working to manipulate the feminist movement, but rather a journalist and activist working within a framework that happened to be funded by the agency.
So if you’re in an NGO and the CIA wants to make sure you keep doing what you’re doing, that’s a pretty easy call for the NGO. For example, what if the purpose of your NGO is for family planning and STD prevention. Are you going to turn away CIA funding just because they think what you’re doing will further their goals too?
That kind of thing has been said about her for years and years. Not surprised at all; it’s almost guaranteed to come up in the pre-written obits from the “liberal media”, too.
Nuance is a thing of the past apparently.
The usual accusations I’ve seen about it over the years seems to be an accusation (usually this is from the left) that she and Ms. magazine, wittingly or unwittingly, were used by CIA (Operation Mockingbird?) to blunt the impact of feminism.
When I first read Schrodinger’s Cat Trilogy, I did not know who Steinem was, and so the joke about a “Steinem job” flew over my head.
Years later, I always wonder if she was ever asked about that reference…
