--- title: Happy 80th Gloria Steinem: 8 of Her Funniest Truisms description: Rare images and great moments in the activist and author's extraordinary life canonical: https://time.com/36046/gloria-steinem-8-funny-quotes-80-birthday/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-25T10:33:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:59.842Z og:title: Here are Gloria Steinem's 8 Funniest Truisms og:description: Rare images and great moments in the activist and author's extraordinary life og:url: https://time.com/36046/gloria-steinem-8-funny-quotes-80-birthday/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here are Gloria Steinem's 8 Funniest Truisms twitter:description: Rare images and great moments in the activist and author's extraordinary life twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Happy 80th Birthday Gloria Steinem: 8 of Her Funniest Quips > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Mar 25, 2014 10:33 AM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Mar 25, 2014 10:33 AM UTC [Gloria Steinem ](https://www.google.com/search?q=time+magazine+gloria+steinem&tbm=isch&imgil=GnRoMr0zfEWyMM%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcTO7ThIP4x3YMBZiQiCFXXwLGYjMa4UIabZK30ODbKXGv4tlfUQQw%253B402%253B527%253BxkJaDkwveDKpUM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fahistoryofnewyork.com%25252Ftag%25252Fgloria-steinem%25252F&source=iu&usg=%5F%5FRd3XWKlp0WqWx8DrFB6mImWYUkM%3D&sa=X&ei=ElYxU%5FnWOsLL0AHh64HIDA&ved=0CC8Q9QEwAQ#facrc=%5F&imgdii=%5F&imgrc=GnRoMr0zfEWyMM%253A%3BxkJaDkwveDKpUM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fblacktown.net%252FISFEMINISMDEAD.gif%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fahistoryofnewyork.com%252Ftag%252Fgloria-steinem%252F%3B402%3B527)isn’t just the founder of Ms. Magazine and the most recognizable “[face of feminism](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/opinion/sunday/collins-this-is-what-80-looks-like.html)” — she’s also hilarious. Herewith, some of her most entertaining nuggets of wisdom. 1) “A woman reading Playboy feels a little like a Jew reading a Nazi manual.” ([1970](http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19700925&id=RrRVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=VOEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6830,5311941))  Feminist journalist and author Gloria Steinem baring one leg as she relaxes in a luxurious bubble bath at home. Marianne Barcellona—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image 2) “A pedestal is as much a prison as any small, confined space.”([1972](http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/gloria-steinem-factor-feminist-icon-75th-birthday-celebrate-article-1.368736))  Writer Gloria Steinem sitting cross-legged on floor w. sign "We Shall Overcome" Yale Joel—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images 3) “The truth will set you free, but first it will [piss you off](http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/24/opinion/mcccartney-steinem-at-80/).”  A uniformed officer arrests feminist Gloria Steinem during an anti-apartheid protest outside the South African Embassy in Washington, Dec. 19, 1984. AP 4) “On my 70th birthday I was going to get a tramp stamp.” ([2011](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2086869,00.html))  Gloria Steinem photographed at Mort Zuckerman's home in East Hampton, 1984. Susan Wood—Getty Images 5) “A liberated woman is one who has sex [before marriage ](http://books.google.com/books?id=ScMvTdVPwPIC&pg=PT35&lpg=PT35&dq=%E2%80%9CA+liberated+woman+is+one+who+has+sex+before+marriage+and+a+job+after.%E2%80%9D&source=bl&ots=XzWsOwD1FV&sig=UXLaRYJK42PkvM-eQnNsZV-jLUE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=jKowU8%5FqDM670AHbrIHYDQ&ved=0CHkQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9CA%20liberated%20woman%20is%20one%20who%20has%20sex%20before%20marriage%20and%20a%20job%20after.%E2%80%9D&f=false)and a job after”  Gloria Steinem and Marlo Thomas during Gloria Steinem's 50th Birthday Party on May 23, 1984, at Waldor-Astoria Hotel in New York City. Ron Galella—WireImage/Getty Images 6) “When I was hosting the Today show, I had a little fat removed from above my eyes so I didn’t look like Mao Zedong and I could wear my contacts. It looked worse afterward.” ([2011](http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2086869,00.html))  Feminist Gloria Steinem wearing her trademark aviator sunglasses during a TV interview show. Ray Fisher—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Image 7) “So what would happen if suddenly, magically, men could menstruate and women could not?…Street guys would invent slang (“He’s a three-pad man”) and “give fives” on the corner with some exchange like, “Man you lookin’ _good!_” “Yeah, man, I’m on the rag!” — [If Men Could Menstruate](http://www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/steinem.menstruate.html), 1978  American feminist writer Gloria Steinem in her Manhattan apartment, New York City, March 1992. Michael Brennan—Getty Images 8) Her most famous quote is “women need men like fish need a bicycle,” but Gloria is a great lady, and great ladies give credit where credit is due. So she corrected us in 2000 when we misattributed this famous quote to her, when in fact Australian Irina Dunn came up with it. Steinem wrote a letter to _Time_ in 2000, --- > “” --- That’s called class.  Gloria Steinem receives the 2013 Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama at the White House on November 20, 2013 in Washington. Leigh Vogel—WireImage/Getty Images [Watch TIME’s Belinda Luscombe talk with Gloria Steinem ](http://content.time.com/time/video/player/0,32068,1094264687001%5F2086963,00.html)about her undercover assignment as a Playboy bunny at the start of her journalism career, whether her looks had something to do with her success as a women’s rights activist, and what she likes about young feminists. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/36046/gloria-steinem-8-funny-quotes-80-birthday/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/36046/gloria-steinem-8-funny-quotes-80-birthday/"},"headline":"Happy 80th Birthday Gloria Steinem: 8 of Her Funniest Quips","datePublished":"2014-03-25T10:33:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:42:59.842Z","description":"Rare images and great moments in the activist and author's extraordinary life","url":"https://time.com/36046/gloria-steinem-8-funny-quotes-80-birthday/","keywords":["Living","feminism","women","Humor","Gloria Steinem"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/36046/gloria-steinem-8-funny-quotes-80-birthday/","name":"Happy 80th Birthday Gloria Steinem: 8 of Her Funniest Quips"}}]}] ```