Gloria Steinem, former leader of the Women’s Liberation Movement and current feminist and social activist will speak on campus for this year’s Breastival, according to Women’s Initiative Director Quinn Pregliasco.
The Breastival is a yearly event held to raise awareness about breast cancer and other health issues. The event will take place from noon until 5 p.m. on the quad Oct. 5, according to Pregliasco.
Steinem will speak at 8:15 p.m. in Ward 1 following the outdoor festivities.
Pregliasco said Steinem’s role as a “posterchild for feminism in the 70s” made her a great speaker for this event.
Steinem has been a figurehead in the media for years; she co-founded Ms. Magazine in the 1970s and has written for such publications as Esquire and The New York Times Magazine, according to her website. Among other accolades, she has received the National Gay Rights Advocates Award and the Bill of Rights Award from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
Steinem is also a breast cancer survivor, which Pregliasco said helped to tie her in well with the event.
Pregliasco predicted that Steinem’s wit and charm would give her a universal appeal to the student body and that she would not alienate any segments of the population.
“She also really thinks that everyone’s futures depend upon each other, and so it’s really the support of both men and women that will bring us to equality,” Pregliasco said.
Steinem’s speech will be co-sponsored by Kennedy Political Union and Women’s Initiative, according to KPU Director Josh Levitt.
Levitt said the two organizations worked throughout the summer to bring Steinem to campus.
“As soon as I was confirmed into the position [of director], I reached out to Women’s Initiative, and I told them that I wanted to work with them on this event,” Levitt said. “It’s a cause that I believe strongly in, and I felt that it’s one that we can pull our resources together and get a really great event and a great speaker.”
Pregliasco said that the annual Breastival has grown over the past five years that it has been put on.
“Last year it incorporated about 2,000 students who walked through it throughout the day, so it’s about one-third of the undergraduate population,” she said.
sparnass@theeagleonline.com
