Gloria Steinem, Renowned Feminist, Slams Sarah Palin

INFDaily.com.

World's most famous feminist says Palin is not.

Gloria Steinem is one of the world's most famous activists for women's rights, as well as a renowned journalist. Steinem's on a bit of a media tour discussing female Republicans in political office, and she's making headlines for what she's said about Sarah Palin: anyone who criminalizes abortion is not an advocate of what's best for women.

Gloria Steinem has been called the "Godmother" of the modern women's movement, as she made her career writing stories on women's freedom to choose in their careers and personal lives. In the last fifty years, Steinem has written for or appeared in such publications as Ms., New York Magazine, Newsweek, Esquire, People and Parade. Now 76 years old, Gloria Steinem continues to speak out about women's rights and how the American government deals with them.

But when Gloria Steinem (pictured below at a 2006 Glamour Magazine event) appeared on The Colbert Report Tuesday night, she disagreed with Colbert when he said that there are more female Republicans in political office than males. "I don't think so," Steinem shrugged off to audience laughter.

Katie Couric has also interviewed Gloria Steinem in an interview that aired this week, in which Steinem says that right-wing extremists are against "any form of sexual expression that doesn't end in conception."

Couric asked Steinem this: "Can you be a conservative feminist? Sarah Palin recently rankled some traditional feminists by calling herself a feminist, and despite the fact that she doesn't espouse many traditional feminist points of view."

Steinem said, "We're free to call ourselves whatever we wish ... Yes you can be a feminist who doesn't agree with abortion, would never have an abortion, but you can't be a feminist who says that other women can't, and criminalizes abortion...to make that criminal and dangerous is not a feminist act, and that is the position of Sarah Palin."

Many Palin critics view her positions on healthcare and women's rights to be anti-feminist, as she does want the government to regulate whether we can make personal choices for our bodies. Gloria Steinem said that one in three American women will need an abortion in her life. Women's Media Center president Jehmu Greene agreed, saying that because she wants the government to make medical decisions and have the government intervene in family planning, Sarah Palin does not represent a feminist because she does not promote the values and sentiments and women's rights that are clearly important.

INFDaily.com.

Another interesting point: Gloria Steinem says that the women's movement has gone to the same lengths to prevent women from being pressured or forced into abortion as it has to give women the right to choose.

Your thoughts?

In other women's health news, Lady Gaga is opening up on what it's like to have been diagnosed "borderline positive" with lupus -- get that story here.