INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Gloria Steinem Apologizes For Comments About Young Women Supporting Bernie Sanders Because ‘The Boys’ Do

By Shaunee Flowers
Published on: 07:02 PST, Feb 8, 2016

Gloria Steinem made some comments about young women who are choosing Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton for the democratic ticket on Friday that really angered a lot of voters. Now, Steinem is apologizing for the comments she made about young female voters via Facebook. In her apology, Steinem even seems to reverse her original claims that young female voters are just following “the boys” as far as who to vote for and now admits that even feminists have great reasons for choosing Bernie over Hillary.

It was on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday that Gloria Steinem said that women “get more activist as they grow older and when you’re younger, you think: ‘Where are the boys? The boys are with Bernie.'” Of course, young female voters were enraged that a feminist and decades-long activist for women’s rights would claim that the younger generation is too stupid to think for themselves. It was also pointed out that Gloria Steinem contradicted herself with the comment about young female Bernie Sanders voters. Before claiming that the women were just following in the footsteps of whom “the boys” were voting for, she also claimed that today’s young women are some of the most vocal and politically active women in history.

New Republic is calling Steinem’s apology for her comments about young women the beginning of her apology tour. Honestly, Steinem might be making several apologies for the huge faux pas. One thing she may not have realized is that young female voters do have a good memory and don’t appreciate being told that they are just following along with “the man” rather than making an educated decision. Is it possible that women — feminists even — are just not impressed with Hillary Clinton?

It didn’t take long for Gloria Steinem to realize that some backtracking must be done, so she did just that right on Facebook.

In what has been billed as a quasi-apology and really just reads as a lot of excuses, Steinem said, “In a case of talk-show Interruptus, I misspoke on the Bill Maher show recently, and apologize for what’s been misinterpreted as implying young women aren’t serious about their politics. What I had just said on the same show was the opposite: young women are active, mad as hell about what’s happening to them, graduating in debt, but averaging a million dollars less over their lifetimes to pay it back. Whether they gravitate to Bernie or Hillary, young women are activist and feminist in greater numbers than ever before.”

As Cosmopolitan pointed out, Steinem’s comments not only enraged female voters, her harsh opinion of young women was a threat to her life’s work. Gloria Steinem has been a huge part of the women’s’ rights movement and is an ardent feminist for her entire career. To sit on stage in front of Bill Maher and claim that young women can’t even think for themselves was not only offensive, but it also is the exact opposite of the goals she’s been trying to accomplish throughout her own lifetime.

Obviously, Gloria Steinem doesn’t really think that young female voters are choosing Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton because they cannot think for themselves, regardless of what she said on Friday. It seems that many hardcore Hillary supporters are stunned by Bernie’s surge in popularity and the possibility that he just might out-campaign Clinton and earn become the democratic candidate in the next presidential election. Is Steinem’s apology for comments made on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher enough to show that she believes young female voters can and do think for themselves? Just as a reminder, Gloria Steinem herself supported Bernie Sanders at one time, and that can be seen in the video below.

Share this article: Gloria Steinem Apologizes For Comments About Young Women Supporting Bernie Sanders Because ‘The Boys’ Do
bill maher feminism
More from Inquisitr