I clearly missed the boat on the whole “Oprah’s coming to campus!” bit (sooooo many emails), but I certainly found out what I missed when I went to the screening party held in the Event Oval last Sunday night. Of course, what I missed was a really cool opportunity to learn about the state of the modern woman from none other than Gloria Steinem and Oprah Winfrey themselves. Although the hour-long episode mainly focused on the life and work of Ms. Steinem, Barnard played an integral part in defining the current state of feminism and its place in modern society.
For those of you who haven’t taken Intro to Women’s Studies, Ms. Steinem was essentially the leading spokeswoman for the Feminist movement, largely begun in the late 1960s. After throwing around a few facts (no women allowed in the Boston Marathon before 1972!) about women in post-war America contrasting with the countless female political leaders, scientists, doctors, lawyers, etc. in society today, the episode then tried to fill in the gaps and explain just how important and monumental and Steinem’s work was—and continues to be. From her first few days fresh out of Smith College, to the first issue of Ms. Magazine published in 1972, to her seven published books, Steinem has worked tirelessly for over forty years to be the voice of the women’s rights movement. In classic Oprah style, the episode also covered Steinem’s personal struggles in dealing with a mentally ill mother, an absent father, and much later in life, a husband who suffered through cancer and died shortly after their marriage.
So where does Barnard come into the picture? Well, Ms. Steinem and Oprah paid a visit one rainy day and sat with a small, select group in the Sulzberger parlor to discuss the current state of feminism as it is seen through our eyes. Some girls talked about how the word “feminist” has been become a pejorative one in culture at large, and it wasn’t until they came to Barnard that they had the chance to discover what it really means. And what does it really mean? Students agree that is really about choice—the choice to work, to raise kids, to stay home, to marry or remain single, but about the choice to pursue whatever makes one happy, regardless of gender. Drawing from this, Steinem made the excellent point that social constructs must change now that humans live past the age of fifty. The women’s movement showed the world that there is more than one way to be happy, rather than the conventional route of marriage and kids. Notably, Oprah called Barnard “a light in the world” which will probably go down in our history books.
After the show, some students remained to discuss the episode, the subject, and Barnard College itself. Those who were present during Oprah’s and Ms. Steinem’s visit noted that large chunks of important discussion were edited out, to their disappointment (the discussion on campus lasted about an hour-and-a-half). Others wanted Ms. Steinem to go into more detail about the issue of women putting down other women, which she dismissed as “systemic” of society in general. Still, everyone was immensely proud to be the go-to institution for research on the state of the modern woman.