I had dinner with Gloria Steinem. Here's how she surprised me.

News admin September 6, 2026 0 Comments

I had dinner with Gloria Steinem. Here’s how she surprised me.

In March of 2001, I had dinner with Gloria Steinem.

She had come to Pensacola to speak at a Women’s History Month event sponsored by the University of West Florida’s Women’s Studies Program. I attended her talk and joined a small group for dinner afterward.

I remember expecting to be impressed. I did not expect to be surprised.

Steinem was, of course, one of the most recognizable figures of the women’s movement. By then, decades of public debate had turned her into something of a symbol. Depending upon your point of view, that symbol could represent courage and progress – or everything wrong with modern feminism.

The woman herself was much more interesting.

Her talk was thoughtful, measured and remarkably clear. There was nothing strident about her. What struck me most was how extraordinarily well informed she was. She knew what was happening in the world-not superficially, but in detail. She had clearly done her homework.

That stayed with me. People who spend their lives speaking publicly can become very good at talking about what they already know. Gloria Steinem seemed determined to keep learning.

But my favorite memory came later.

Dinner was held in a private room of a local restaurant owned by a prominent conservative in our community. The setting itself offered a certain comic contrast. The walls were covered with photographs of men shaking hands with other men, including a prominently displayed photograph of Newt Gingrich. It was not, shall we say, a shrine to the feminist movement.

We had invited the owner to join us for dinner. He declined.

That was not particularly surprising.

As was his custom, however, he stopped by our table that evening to greet his guests. We introduced him to Gloria, and the two began a polite conversation.

Then something happened.

He lingered.

A few minutes passed. The polite conversation became a real conversation. He asked questions. She asked questions. They talked some more.

And then he turned to me.

“Can you move over?”

I did.

He pulled up a chair beside Gloria Steinem and stayed for the rest of the evening.

I have thought about that dinner many times over the years, especially lately.

Gloria didn’t engage him by overpowering him. She didn’t lecture him. She didn’t demand that he agree with her before she would talk with him.

She was interested in him.

And because she was interested, he became interested in her.

I don’t know whether either of them changed a single political opinion that evening. That wasn’t the point. Something perhaps more important happened: two people who had every reason to see each other as opposing symbols instead encountered each other as human beings.

We have become awfully good at identifying our enemies.

We know their labels, their politics, their news channels and their voting records. Increasingly, we decide what someone thinks before they have had the opportunity to tell us. Then we talk-or shout-past one another.

Gloria Steinem showed me another way that evening.

Know what is happening in the world. Do your homework. Know what you believe. And then be curious enough to listen to someone who sees things differently.

You might not change their mind.

They might not change yours.

But if you’re interesting enough, thoughtful enough and genuinely interested enough in the person standing across from you, something unexpected might happen.

They may just pull up a chair.

That was the magic of Gloria Steinem.

Martha Saunders is president emeritus of the University of West Florida.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: I had dinner with Gloria Steinem. Here’s how she surprised me.

Reporting by Martha Saunders, Guest columnist / Pensacola News Journal

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This story was originally published September 6, 2026 at 5:03 AM.