If you ever needed a reminder that The View functions less like a news show and more like a liberal revival tent, look no further than their canonization of feminist icon Gloria Steinem on Wednesday’s broadcast. The View gave us a lovefest disguised as journalism, complete with misty-eyed reminiscing, revisionist history, and, of course, obligatory Trump-bashing.
To begin the segment, Steinem was quickly elevated from activist to oracle, with Whoopi praising her from the beginning:
GOLDBERG: (...) I want to ask you, why do you think it was so revolutionary, and when did you realize that there was really something huge happening that we thought, you know, could happen, but was really starting to get legs?
STEINEM: Really because I had been traveling and speaking to audiences with my speaking partners, and we could see that what was happening in the audience, and especially with women, was not happening at all with magazines, which mainly were praising their advertisers or writing traditional articles, and so, we had the revolutionary and not very commercial– in terms of advertisers– idea that we could have a magazine that really related every day to what women read, and we could see that it was happening, because we got mail by the bushels from women saying, “Thank you so much. Now I know I'm not crazy”
The hosts and Steinem also implied that before Ms. magazine was published, domestic violence was held as a sign of a healthy marriage by women. Joy Behar and Goldberg referenced a Billie Holiday song “My Man” to back up their claim that women actually enjoyed being abused by their husbands before Steinem apparently invented the idea that women were human beings.
Holiday's song was widely accepted to be an artistic interpretation of a woman’s complex feelings about being in a relationship with a man she knows was hurting her, but still having romantic feelings for him. But The View took the lazy approach in taking the song's meaning to fit their narrative.
Behar took it a step further and praised the magazine for publishing a list of women who had abortions, calling it “totally revolutionizing.” Yes, the magazine praised a list of over 30 women who proudly announced to the world that they had undergone an abortion. And The View glorified the deaths of the babies, whose murders were used simply for political exploitation and feminist praise.
With that cue, the conversation veered predictably into abortion politics, with Behar asking if the entire women’s rights movement would be decimated because of the recent defunding of Planned Parenthood.
Steinem replied with a bizarre line, implying wombs are political battlegrounds, stating, "Wombs are necessary for all kinds of reasons and all kinds of politics that have to do with race and nationality.”
As if the only reason someone could oppose abortion is for some twisted racial goal. It’s clear that The View and Steinem did not do their research into Planned Parenthood, which was founded by known proponent of racial eugenics Margaret Sanger. One of the major reasons the organization was founded was to prevent “unfit” people from having children. To Sanger, that meant Black and poor women. If anything, abortion was a political weapon, not pregnancy.
Race-obsessed co-host Sunny Hostin then brought forth a very weak criticism of Ms. magazine, asking about the publication's lack of diversity. It was clearly an attempt to at least have the appearance of a rounded discussion, which was made even more apparent when the hosts didn’t question Steinem’s weak response:
But it was a problem because, for instance, newsstands were divided into magazines for white audience and people of color so didn't know what to do with us, you know, we had no place there, and so I used to go around the country and invite out to coffee the newsstand dealers, the guys, and try to persuade them, you know, to put the magazine in a particular place that didn't apply to those categories.
The fact that the hosts allowed such a watered down answer spoke volumes to their own biases. Steinem did not answer the question presented to her, but rather offered up a vague excuse about newsstands.
The View didn’t interview Steinem, they fawned over her, and not without subjecting their viewers to the usual slew of liberal fearmongering and propagandizing.
The entire transcript is blow. Click "expand" to read.
ABC’s The View
July 9, 2025
11:34:28 AM ETWHOOPI GOLDBERG: Please welcome Gloria Steinem.
[APPLAUSE]
So, I remember when Ms. magazine first launched over 50 years ago.
JOY BEHAR: Oh my god.
GLORIA STEINEM: Shocking.
GOLDBERG: The time just has gone, but I want to ask you, why do you think it was so revolutionary, and when did you realize that there was really something huge happening that we thought, you know, could happen, but was really starting to get legs?
STEINEM: Really because I had been traveling and speaking to audiences with my speaking partners, and we could see that what was happening in the audience, and especially with women, was not happening at all with magazines, which mainly were praising their advertisers or writing traditional articles. And so, we had the revolutionary and not very commercial– in terms of advertisers– idea that we could have a magazine that really related every day to what women read. And we could see that it was happening, because we got mail by the bushels from women saying, “Thank you so much. Now I know I'm not crazy” and --
BEHAR: Right.
STEINEM: You know, “I'm not letting my husband read the magazine.” I don't know, you know, all kinds –
[LAUGHTER]
BEHAR: Yeah.
STEINEM: So it was intuition, luck, and everything that happens to born– give birth to every social justice movement.
BEHAR: I remember it very well, and it was– it was totally revolutionizing to me and every– every woman, I mean, it was like, whoa, this is just about how to put your hair together and put on lipstick. So -- and the other thing is in the first issue, that you published a list of 53 notable women including Billie Jean King, Susan Sontag, and yourself who had had an abortion. It was interesting because Nora Ephron was on the list even though she didn't have an abortion, she just wanted to do it for support, according to the documentary.
And abortions were illegal during that period. And they're still under-- abortion rights are still under attack. I mean, if Trump's Big Beautiful Bill would effectively defund Planned Parenthood, which Planned Parenthood is– it’s– abortion is just a very small part of what they do, but they want to just annihilate the entire thing. Are you surprised we're back where we started, almost?
STEINEM: Well, I don't think we're back where we started because it is not a danger in the way that it was to have an abortion.
BEHAR: Not yet.
STEINEM: Not yet, but I think it happens that women have wombs, and wombs are necessary for all kinds of reasons and all kinds of politics that have to with race and nationality and everything, so just to fight for our bodily freedom is not going to be a given for awhile. It's– one of the good things about being old, I'm old, is that I remember when it was worse, okay.
BEHAR: Yeah.
STEINEM: But I do realize how far we have to go.
SARA HAINES: One thing we share in common is we both went to Smith College and I have to say as a proud Smith grad, your light shines bright because so many of us are drawn to that institution because of you, so thank you for that.
But long before the Me Too movement, Ms. magazine was the first to discuss taboo subjects like sexual harassment, domestic violence, which raised awareness, led to legislative action and the opening of the first battered women's shelters. So, tell us about that and how controversial those covers were at the time.
STEINEM: Well, we were trying to figure out how portray the issue without duplicating the problem, and so we had a very delicate-faced woman with a black eye that, of course, was makeup to -- in order to be shocking. But I, of course, remembered this from growing up in Toledo, Ohio, where domestic violence was so common that women almost– I wouldn't say bragged about it– but it was a proof that their husbands cared. I mean, it was and–
GOLDBERG: There were– there were songs written like that, remember? “He hits me because he loves me.” I mean, this is– this is the mentality that they– that they gave us.
BEHAR: “Oh my man, I love him so, he beats me too.”
GOLDBERG: Yes.
STEINEM: And the sign of success in the eye of the police was getting the family back together again. The criminal and the abused.
BEHAR: And the police wouldn't do anything either at that time, if I recall.
STEINEM: No, it was very difficult to– I mean, the first thing that happened was not from the police that was helpful, it was shelters that women’s groups around the country, began to open shelters where women could go.
BEHAR: Right.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Well, the documentary, I watched it yesterday. It's fantastic. It delves into some criticism though of the feminist movement in general and it hits that hard on. And Ms. magazine, in particular, criticisms of the magazine, which struggled with diversity and representation. For example, the founding editors were all white and women of color were rarely featured on the cover, even though they were on the cover. What did you learn from the criticism that you received, and what advice would you have for the social movements of today?
STEINEM: Well, what I learned was, learn from the criticism and then do it, you know, do what you -
HOSTIN: Yeah.
STEINEM: But it was a problem because, for instance, newsstands were divided into magazines for white audience and people of color. And so, they didn't know what to do with us, you know, we had no place there. And so, I used to go around the country and invite out to coffee the newsstand dealers, the guys, and try to persuade them, you know, to put the magazine in a particular place that didn't apply to those categories.
GOLDBERG: I tell you, Gloria, thanks for everything you've done.
BEHAR: Yeah. Thank you, Gloria.
[APPLAUSE]
STEINEM: Listen, no, I remember– I remember seeing you in California, you were performing in California, and I remember coming back to New York and saying to New York magazine, there is this amazing–
GOLDBERG: Strange woman–
STEINEM: So, thank you. Thank you, thank you.
GOLDBERG: Thank you. Our thanks to Gloria Steinem. “Dear Ms.: A Revolution In Print” is available on HBO and it is streaming on Max. We'll be right back.
