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BOOKS
A Feminist’s
‘Marilyn’
Gloria Steinem explores the real woman
that hid inside the bombshell persona
For many, Gloria Steinem remains the
most risible feminist of her generation At
52. she still edits at Ms magazine, which
she helped found in 1971. Recently Steinem
published her third book, Marilyn (Hen
ry Holt 1X2 pages $24.95), a biographical
essay on Marilyn Monroe with accompany
ing photos by George Harris. Paula Chin of
Newsweek On Campus spoke to Steinem
about her recent work and about the current
status of the women s mocement.
NEWSWEEK: What attract** you to Marilyn?
STEINEM: Where to begin? There were
many fascinating questions and mysteries.
Why is she so appealing, and as well known
now as she was during her lifetime, even
among young people who may never have
seen one of her movies? She is a cult figure
whom we see in advertisements, memora
bilia, imitators like Madonna. She's very
current—why? Why do men and women
feel so protective toward her? Why this
obsession—and not just here but in r.u
rope'.’ There were all these public ques
tions, and there were also private ques
tions I am certainly old enough to have
seen many of her films, and I wasembar
rassed by her: she seemed u victim, vul
nerable, a joke; she was what 1 feared a
woman had tube It wasn't until later—
and courtesy of whatever you wunt to
cull the change and understanding that
comes from feminism—that I began to
realize that to blame her for that was
blunting the victim, that she was play
ing a role women were rewarded for
playing So I became much more curious
about the real person, the real Norma
Jeane inside Marilyn.
Do you consider this kook to ko a feminist
response to largely sosist biographies?
Yes, though 1 hasten to add that men
can be just us feminist us women for
instance, Norman Rosten, a poet and
friend of hers, wrote a very good book
But on the other end of the spectrum is
the Norman Mailer book, which is more
about Norman and his fantasies of a
sexual goddess than about
Marilyn. While that is part of
her appeal, that isn’t the reason
women have rescue fantasies
about her We tend to wonder if
we might not have helped her,
what would have happened if
she had had women friends, if
she hadn’t died before there was
some kindofsupport for women
being individuals. She wanted
so much to be taken seriously;
her last words in one of her last
interviews were exactly that:
'Don’t make me a joke'.”
Don't you tool, however, that there
are contradictions between the sexy photos in the
hook and yoer feminist text?
I don't think there is as much acontradic
tion as there would have been if we'd
used some of the photographs of her
that have appeared in the past. These are
'Don't make me a Joke': Monroe
THOMAS VICTOR
Icon on icon: Steinem analyzes sex goddess
somewhat more sensitive and pensive.
There is some contradiction—but there
was for her, too; her insides and her out
sides were different ... I can only hope
that if people pick the book up for the
wrong reasons they will come away with a
different understanding of her.
In the lest chapter ot the book you ask who
might Marilyn be now. What is your answer?
If she had lived to be 60, which she
would have been now, she would have
had to grow beyond, or lose some of her
dependency on, her external, artificial
self. Who would Norma Jeane have be
come is the question ... 1 hope that the
women's movement would have helped
her refuse to be a victim.
How do you regard tho state of the American
women's movement today?
I will generalize and take a histori
cal view . . It was only half a century
ago that women were still objects,
were ownable, were still chattel. That
is an extraordinary victory. Having
won a legal identity, now we’re trying
to get legal and social equality.
I We're about 15 years into this wave,
I we're just beginning In this beginning
I we have accomplished a lot. First of
I all, we have pretty much disproven the
notion that women's |inferior| position