Does the Third Wave movement need a leader, someone like Gloria Steinem?
Richards: Steinem didn’t maker herself a leader, the media did, which is more and more the case. We live in a culture dominated by a cult of celebrity, in which leadership is based on who gets the most face time and who gets the most PR time. But a leader is made because she or he does something different. This is muddied now — leadership is dependent on who gets the most press. Hollywood actors are treated like leaders because they get the most PR. I’m constantly screaming: “What did Leonardo DiCaprio ever do?” And so while it’s wonderful that certain celebrities put their money and personality behind a certain cause, it masks who really is fighting for that cause. Baumgardner: The other way I’ve always read the quote Amy mentions is: The people who in one generation are totally singular because they were brave enough to challenge the system, in the next inherit their victories. We are all Gloria Steinems now — without the fame, of course — because we all have the rights that she f
