Of Ms. and Men

A writer, activist and co-founder of Ms. Magazine, Gloria Steinem has played a pivotal role in the women's movement. But she first garnered national attention in 1963 when she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny and wrote a damning expose about her experiences inside the famous men's club. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Why uzzy media productions. So you know, let's say a
woman's places in the home, and I suppose as long
as she's in the home, she might as well be
in the kitchen. Welcome to the new wave of feminism.
Welcome to each other, Welcome home. A new movement for

(00:21):
women's liberation is launched. This is no simple reform. It
really is a revolution. It was a simple but bold idea,
even a radical one, to create a magazine by women
for women. The first issue hit news stands in July
nineteen seventy two and sold out in eight days. It

(00:45):
was called MS Magazine. Thousands of letters poured into the
magazine's tiny Manhattan office from grateful women across the United States.
The backlash against MS was just as pronounced, and his
primary target was one of the magazine's founders, Glorious Dinah
Steinen was an outspoken thirty eight year old feminist and writer,
a leader of the growing women's movement in America, and

(01:07):
she was about to find herself on the pages of
another magazine. A popular men's tabloid called Screw decided to
do its own special profile of Steinham. I saw it
on the news stands, hanging open outside our offer Miss
magazine offices. It was open to a centerfold which was

(01:28):
a new drawing of a woman clearly intended to be
me because it had my hair and my sunglasses. And
then there was drawing of penis along the side, and
it said pin pin the cock on the feminist, like
pin the tail on the donkey. And just in case
Steina missed her pin up and news stands across New York,

(01:50):
Screws editor the flamboyant pornographer Al Goldstein made sure that
copies were posted outside her office. Steinn's lawyer sent a
letter to Goldstein to protest the demeaning centerfold. In return,
he sent me back a box of chocolates with a
note that said eat it. Steinham was humiliated, but she
wasn't about to eat it. From that point on, I

(02:11):
just decided, you know, just you just have to ignore
it and go on. You stand. I'm Sean Braswell, and
this is the threat. Each season, we unraveled the stories
behind some of the most important lives and events in

(02:32):
history to discover essentially how one thing leads to another.
To do so, we will travel back through history, one
story at a time to explore the origins of an
important event, a big idea, or an iconic figure. This
season how Glorious Steinham became a leading voice for women
and helps spark a revolution for social change that still

(02:52):
rages on today. Gloria Steinham has been a foot soldier
in the fight for social justice and women's rights for
more than half a century, and she's endured far more
than just Screw magazine along the way. Steinham was an
early silence breaker, and her path to feminist icon runs
through some surprising places. In this episode, we'll hear from

(03:15):
Steinham about some of those places, including the time she
went undercover as a playboy bunny and one of Hugh
Hefner's famous playboy clubs during the nineteen sixties. This season's
thread is also about much more than Gloria Steinham. In
the course of six episodes, we will bear witness to
a remarkable chapter in American history, one that runs from
the casting couches of early Hollywood to the doorstep of

(03:38):
the Me Too movement today. It is a tale of power, glamour,
and coercion. It is also a tale of liberation. Steinhm
put it best, the truth will set you free, but
first it will piss you off. The Women's March brought
nearly half a million people to Washington, d C. In January.

(04:05):
In Washington, the crowd was so big plans to march
near the White House had to be canceled by organizers,
not far from where Trump yesterday took the oath of office.
Others took to the stage. There were many high profile
speakers at the Women's March that day, Madonna, Michael Moore,
Angela Davis, Ashley Judd, Bernie Sanders. But there was one

(04:26):
who stole the show. You look great. I wish you
could see yourselves. It's like an ocean. And it was
that woman, the eight two year old activist Gloria Steine,
who could put the moment and that ocean in its
true context. This is the upside of the downside. This

(04:48):
is an outpouring of energy and true democracy like I
have never seen in my very long life. Steinham has marched,
given speeches, and raised money for feminist causes and other
civil rights issues for much of her life. But to
discover where Steinham's journey began, we have to first travel

(05:11):
back back to the nineteen sixties nineteen sixty three. To
be precise, that's when Betty for Dan Penn The Feminine Mystique,
the book often credited for launching feminism so called second
wave in the twentieth century. The National Organization for Women
Are Now was founded three years later. This is Steinham
biographer Patricia Marcello. It was starting to be a thing.

(05:34):
You know, women were burning their bras everybody has heard
about that um and you know, starting to say, hey,
you know what, women being mothers and wives is okay
if that's what you want, But if that's not what
you want, then there need to be other options. Are

(06:02):
Glorious Dinham was a reporter and editor for New York
Magazine at the time. She had her own feminist awakening,
her big click moment in nineteen sixty nine. This is
Glorious Dinham for me, it was going as a journalist
to cover a hearing about abortion. I listened to people
women stand up and tell the truth about something that

(06:26):
was unacceptable, illegal, and just tell their stories. She was
very moved by the women whose stories were told. She
really took that the heart because that was her, you know,
she had lived through that same thing. I had had
an abortion when I was about twenty two, and I

(06:46):
suddenly thought, wait a minute, if if so many of
us have had this experience in our lives, and democracy
should start with controlling our own bodies, what's going on here?
And she decided then that she was on the path
to help women do whatever they wanted to do here.

(07:07):
Steinham addresses a rally for women's liberation in nineteen seventy. Now,
thanks to the spirit of equality in the air, and
to the work of many of my more four sighted sisters,
I no longer accept society's judgment that my group is
second class. Feminists were often portrayed at the time as

(07:28):
a motley crew of unattractive, sex starved radicals whose message
would have a limited appeal to other women in America.
This is news legend Walter Cronkite in nineteen seventy, on
the fiftieth anniversary of women earning the right to vote.
On this anniversary, the modan minority of women's liberationists was
on the streets across the country to demand equal employment

(07:48):
for women, care centers, for mother's child abortions running one
who wants them, and generally equality between women and men.
Steinen began to write about women's issues. Her male editors
warned her she was getting too close to the quote
crazies in the movement. That didn't stop her. Steinham realized
that ginger equality would never come about and less women

(08:09):
organized and supported each other and forced it to happen.
Being an organizer is kind of being an entrepreneur of
social change. Steinham began criss crossing the country in the
early nineteen seventies. Her hair was long and streaked. She
often wore aviator sunglasses, turtlenecks, and blue jeans. Steinham campaigned
for the Equal Rights Amendment. She worked on behalf of

(08:31):
Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for president.
She said what many others were afraid to say. This
is no simple reform. It really is a revolution. This
is Steinham addressing the National Women's Political Caucus in nineteen
seventy one. Sex and race, because they are easy, visible
differences have been the primary ways of organizing human beings

(08:53):
into superior and inferior groups. We are talking about a
society in which there will be no role other than
those chosen or those earned. We are really talking about humanism.
Steinham undermine the media's caricature of feminism. She was low key,
soft spoken and approachable, a very mainstream radical. But how

(09:15):
Gloria more than anything was her ability to get along
with folks. She could talk to them intelligently, and they
loved that about her. But Steinham's colleagues in the media
zeroed in on another one of her traits. They would
always focus on her because of her looks. She was
tall and thin and beautiful, and so they made her

(09:35):
the face of the women's movement. Steinham's critics also trivialized
her as glamorous and sexy. They focused on her personal
life and her relationships with men. They suggested there were
other reasons for her growing influence. You know, if women
could sleep their way at the top, there would be
a lot more women at the top. It just doesn't work.
So the whole idea of attributing your accomplishments or lack

(09:59):
of accomplish most to your appearance is not something we
do with men. Why do we do it with women?
The focus on Steinham's personal life and appearance didn't stop.
The Washington Post called her the mini skirted pin up
girl of the intelligentsia. Elsewhere, she was labeled a manizer,
an overseex frustrated spinster and much worse. For the most part,
she was berated in public, just treated like she was

(10:24):
trying to do something wrong instead of trying to do
something very right. Esquire magazine published a damning profile of
Steinham in one called she it transformed Steinham into a
feminist fim fatale, one whose fame stemmed from her effect
on men. No man who seeks to know how the
wind blows, Leonard Levitt wrote, can afford to ignore Gloria.

(10:46):
The article implied that her methods and motivations were also
less than noble. He was characterizing me as someone who
just cynically or self aggrandizing. Lee attached myself to movements
and came complete with a cartoon strip. As I remember,
so it was. It was quite painful. Steinham's treatment by

(11:09):
men in the media only made her more determined to
change things. She knew there was really nothing for women
to read on newsstands that was controlled by women, which
brings us back to Miss magazine. So, you know, we
just had the revolutionary idea of working for a magazine
we read because there there were, and I have to

(11:31):
say there's still are very few publications for women that
are owned and controlled by women. Then there was absolutely not.
It was a totally new idea and it was the
first publication that took us seriously, you know, and said, yes,
you are a citizen in the world. Yes you are

(11:51):
equal to men in every way, Wake up and realize it.
The first issue of Miss carried a petition signed by
hundreds of women saying they'd had abortions and demanding an
end to its criminalization. Here is Steinham in a interview
describing what made MISS magazine special. What makes us different
from other women's magazines is that, first of all, our

(12:13):
bottom line is we assume that women are equal human beings.
We're not still arguing about it like other magazines. Miss
Magazine published stories about abortions, gender bias in the English language,
the views of presidential candidates on women's issues, and more.
It was communal, cooperative, and democratic. Inside the magazine's offices,

(12:34):
there was no hierarchy. The masthead was an alphabetical list
of its staff and Steinham and still the organization with
a deep sense of purpose and intensity. If she didn't
like the people that were coming in, if they didn't
have the same mindset as she did, they didn't work there.
In fact, um. She required that they were to be

(12:54):
able to say the F bomb, and if they couldn't
say that, you know, they didn't work at Miss magazine.
But there were major obstacles to starting a women's magazine.
The biggest getting advertisers. We UM tried to get ads
that otherwise we're directed at man cars and insurance and
wine and so on. Such efforts met with little success,

(13:16):
and it was nearly impossible to find advertisers who didn't
want to dictate the editorial content of a women's magazine.
But after a while we discovered that actually we were
economically better off if we didn't take any advertising, because
what readers wanted and what advertisers wanted were two different things.
And so if you look at Miss magazine to this day,

(13:37):
you will see there's no commercial advertising. Gloria Steinham and
Miss faced more than reluctant advertisers. Many critics could not
see the point of the magazine. One national news anchor
gave the publication six months before it ran out of
things to say. MS did not run out of material
and left its mark on the world. Steinham herself, however,

(13:57):
left her first big mark nearly a decade for the
launch of Miss Magazine. Up next, we turned the clock
back to Steinham's frustrating early years as a journalist and
a pivotal experience that kick started her journey to feminist icon.

(14:24):
Gloria Steinem was a voracious reader as a young woman
in Toledo, Ohio. I mean I would just pick up
one and keep reading until I finished, regardless of whether
it was a day and a half later. So I
think that that's why I wanted so much to be
a writer. She eventually moved to New York City in
the late nineteen fifties to start her career in journalism.
Stein and biographer Patricia Marcello again, and you know, if

(14:48):
you've watched any TV shows or movies about that period,
and I lived through it, so I know, women were
not considered to be equal to men. They didn't want
women writers, They didn't think we were capable bull of
producing it, you know, proper news story. At that time,
female college graduates were considered overqualified for the secretarial pool

(15:09):
but underqualified for just about everything else. When I first
graduated from college, I tried to get a job as
a researcher at Time magazine because there was a system
there which meant that women researched and men wrote. There
were no women writing, and uh, I could see therefore
that it wasn't wasn't going to lead to writing. Steinham

(15:31):
struggled as a freelance journalist for years. She was the
quote girl reporter who often settled on penning lightweight women's
stories for outlets like Glamour and Vogue. Then, in nineteen three,
at an editorial meeting for Show, an arts magazine, the
young Steinen was thrust into an assignment that would change
her life. I was sitting in a magazine editorial meeting,

(15:52):
and because the Playboy Club was just opening in Manhattan,
I suggested that Lillian Ross, who was a wonderful New
Yorker writer, great great writer, go be a bunny. But
I was kidding, you know, because she was, you know,
much too old and too smart to ever be a bunny.
And the editors said, aha, you do it, so she did.

(16:18):
Playboy clubs strive to entertain and titillate their wealthy male
members and guests. They were the offspring of Hugh Hefner,
founder of the popular Playboy magazine. The magazine had become
famous for its nude centerfolds, known as Playmates of the Month.
The Playboy clubs were quickly becoming known for another species
of female sex object, The playboy bunny. Bunny is an

(16:40):
American creation. She's a cross between a hostess, showgirl and
the bomb maid waitress, well versed in the art of
charming the cash customers in a string of plush international clubs.
Yes it's true, proclaimed the Playboy Club ads. Attractive young
girls can now earn two hundred three hundred dollars a
week at the fabulous New York Playboy Club. Please bring
a swimsuit or leotar it the twenty year olds. Dynham

(17:02):
did exactly that. She showed up at the Playboy Club
under an assumed name and with no legal identification. She
was certain she would be rejected and her undercover assignment
would soon be over, but it turned out they were
so desperate for employees that they hired me. Steinham later wrote,
hippote Hop, I'm a bunny. She soon began her bunny training.
So they just sort of made you take off your

(17:25):
coat and walk around and see if you could pronounce
the name of drinks uh, And then they showed you
the costume, which it was incredibly barbaric. I mean it
left welts on your ribs and they stuffed your bosom
with plastic dry cleaning bags. So they had to be

(17:46):
packed into a bunny suit, which was more like a
one piece bathing suit strapless bathing suit. They had to
work cuffs with cuff links, uh black tights that they
had to buy for themselves. They had to have shoes
that matched their costumes, which they had to have died
to match the same color as their costume, and they

(18:07):
had to pay for all of that. The bunny is
paid the best part of two thousand pounds a year.
She's trained to perfection, the meticulously groomed, and the rules
are sticked. No dating customers, for instance, is permitted on
plane of dismissals. Every new Bunny was given the Club Bible,

(18:29):
the Playboy Club Bunny Manual. It proclaimed you were holding
the top job in the country for a young girl.
I remember one part of the Bunny manual said always
remember your proudest possession is your bunny tail. This is
Russell Miller, author of Bunny, The Real Story of Playboy
in These Days, So Fat you lu to Chris. The
manual also provided detailed instructions on proper bunny protocol and behavior,

(18:54):
and experienced club trainers showed aspiring bunnies the ropes good,
I'm your gunny. Izzy. Noticed that she smiles and gives
eye contact with all four of us. We imagine that
there's another gentleman sitting there. She places the napkin. Now,
you noticed that she placed the napkins for the ladies
first and with the bunny emblem facing the guests. Now
when she places this one, you notice that she is
doing what we call a bunny dip. The bunny dip

(19:16):
was one of several prescribed bunny poses. You leaned back
when you placed drinks on low tables in parts, so
you wouldn't fall out of your costume. Bunnies were also
given to merits if they're tights, head runs, or if
their ears were bent. They were told that company spies
were watching them if they fell out of line. Steinham
shared these inside details and many more with the world. Well,

(19:37):
she was taking on the playboy bunny image. You know.
Everybody thought it was so cool and oh, if you
could work in a club like that, how cool would
that be? Well, it wasn't cool at all. Steinham served
drinks as a table bunny, and took coats as a
hat check bunny. The exclusive club was unlike anything else
in the city. Smooth orchestra playing, there'd be a dance floor,

(20:00):
there'll be a bar area. Um, that would be a restaurant.
But the Playboy Club offered this unique facility of the
bunny who was always pretty, always smiling, the and um.
You know, it was the tremendous successful concept, a great
night out for the lads. Some of the lads, as

(20:21):
Steinham wrote about, did more than admire the club's costume staff.
They pinched and pulled tails, they padded and propositioned. You know,
I was just wanting to show the reality of those
working women. It was subject to constant what we would
now term sexual harassment, but there wasn't even a word

(20:41):
for it then. It was a terrible job. Steinin remembers
one customer who grabbed a hold of her after his
fourth martini. When she pulled away, he grew angry. He yelled,
what do you think I come here for the roast beef.
Steinham worked less than two weeks at the club. She
with swollen feet, but also one hell of a story.

(21:03):
Her subsequent essay about her undercover stint, A Bunny's Tale,
made a big splash, but it did not receive the
kind of reception she had hoped for. For the most part,
it was taken as lighthearted and frivolous. Steinham received suggestions
from editors at other magazines that she posed as a
call girl and do an expose on prostitution. They weren't joking.

(21:25):
I was just beginning to get serious assignments, journalistic assignments,
and after I did that, I was, you know, getting
a lot less serious ideas directed at me. For years,
she regretted the Playboy story. However, in retrospect, you know,
once the women's wovement got started, I was I was

(21:48):
glad I did it. The story improved working conditions for
women at the Playboy clubs, and it also opened Steinham's
eyes in new ways to how women were treated and perceived.
Steinham later wrote, eventually feminism made me understand that reporting
about phony glamor and the exploitative employment policies of the
Playboy club was a useful thing to do. She says

(22:08):
she came to realize that in many ways, all women
are bunnies, and that was one of the reasons that
she got into feminism. She saw the women were being
mistreated on a regular basis in all walks of life,
not just as playboy bunnies. Working at the Playboy Club
gave Gloria stein Him the chance to challenge the world

(22:30):
of male privilege for the first time and to break
the silence on how women were being treated there. It
was an endeavor that would change her life and with it,
the lives of countless other women. The playboy world that
helped transform Steinem and helped her transform the lives of others,
was the brainchild of a very different kind of American icon.
Next time on the Thread, Hugh Hefner, the audacious playboy,

(22:54):
set out to reinvent what it meant to be a worldly,
sophisticated man, only to become the poster boy for man's
baser instincts. Thank You Stand, We Must From the Threat

(23:18):
is produced by Libby Coleman and me Sean Braswell. Chris
Hoff engineered our show special thanks to Gloria Steinhum, Cindy
Carpi and Tracy Moran and James Watkins. This episode features
music by Bill McGarvey, with a song called Standing Next
To Gloria Stye. To learn more about the thread, visit
ausi dot com. Slash the thread all one word, and

(23:39):
make sure to subscribe to the thread on Apple Podcasts.
Check us out at ausi dot com or on Twitter
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look no further than the flashback section of ausi dot com.
That's o z y dot com.