Do feminists know that the Gloria Steinem/CIA suspicions are not just rantings of paranoids...?

Question

but have been suggested by such feminists as Betty Friedan?

http://www.nytimes.com/1976/07/04/books/friedan-changed.html

RoVale, actually the story I linked to was in the NY Times in 1976.

However, it is tricky to research this question, because the legitimate research is so mixed up with paranoid conspiracy theorist stuff (both left and right wing). From what I can glean, there is a fair amount of evidence for CIA connections but no compelling evidence for what her roles was to be. For example:

1. Create chaos in America. (I find this one absurd.)
2. Break up the Radicals of the 60who were untied by fee love and anti-war. (This has some plausibility.)
3. Keep feminism from aligning itself with Marxism and report on Marxist sympathizers within the movement. (That sounds like the CIA I am familiar with.)

And note that the last case doesn't even make Steinem a hypocrite. She may have been genuinely supportive of the feminist cause, genuinely wanting to pursue a non-Marxist course, and genuinely worried about Marxists destroying the movement's credibility.

Answer 1

Yes, she briefly worked in the late 1950s for an organization called NSA (National Student Association).

NSA was formed in 1947 to organize dialog between American college kids and other college kids in Europe to discuss political ideologies. This was during the time when the cold war was building.

By the early 1950s, some of the upper NSA directors started working with the CIA in exchange for funding for NSA.

Gloria was not one of these people. In fact, no one but those directly involved with the CIA knew about the connection.



To RoVale: This is not new news. If you'd like to read more details, you can find them in Chapter 11 of Sydney Stern's biography of Ms. S that came out in 1997.

Answer 2

She actually doesn't deny it, and it was brought out within the actual Feminist movement(the opposing feminists)

I'm not sure why anyone would deny something that Steinem herself doesn't deny. Of course, Steinem denies providing information to the CIA, and was funded to spread Socialist, yet Anti-Communist sentiment at the fairs.

The other question regarding this issue: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtfAfp6kHcCm4FW8HDj_KvLsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071024175747AAjPgtn&show=7#profile-info-slzaKhQUaa

Answer 3

I tend to be suspicious of all this since it's only recently that these revelations have come out. I need more proof before I can be convinced.