Mark Belling called Gloria Steinem a “grizzled old bag,” “old witch”

Written by Media Matters Staff

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Radio host Mark Belling called Gloria Steinem a “grizzled old bag,” “old witch,” and “embittered old has-been” and also stated that the “previous generation” of feminists “were so ugly you couldn't stand to look at them.”

On the September 4 broadcast of The Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show, radio host Mark Belling called author, activist, and Ms. magazine co-founder Gloria Steinem a “grizzled old bag,” and an “old witch.” Belling made these remarks while discussing Steinem's September 4 Los Angeles Times op-ed, in which she criticized Sen. John McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. Belling also asserted: “She [Steinem] was the cutting edge feminism. Feminists prior to her were the old bags, the previous generation prior to the [The Feminine Mystique author] Betty Friedans of the world, the women that were so ugly you couldn't stand to look at them. Here came Gloria Steinem wearing the mini skirts and dating the famous people and being the glamorous representation of what American feminism is. Well now Gloria Steinem is just nothing more than a 74-year-old, embittered, old has-been sitting out in Los Angeles.”

Belling's show is carried on News/Talk 1130 WISN-AM in Milwaukee, owned by Clear Channel Communications. Talkers magazine includes Belling in its "Heavy Hundred" list, which it describes as a list of the “100 most important radio talk show hosts in America.”

From September 4 broadcast of WISN's The Mark Belling Late Afternoon Show:

BELLING: Guess who's weighing in on Sarah Palin. I couldn't be happier -- Gloria Steinem, grizzled old bag that she is. There was one point where Gloria Steinem was the future of the feminist movement in America. She created Ms. magazine, she invented it. She was the cutting edge feminism. Feminists prior to her were the old bags, the previous generation prior to the Betty Friedans of the world, the women that were so ugly you couldn't stand to look at them. Here came Gloria Steinem wearing the miniskirts and dating the famous people and being the glamorous representation of what American feminism is. Well, now Gloria Steinem is just nothing more than a 74-year-old, embittered, old has-been sitting out in Los Angeles. She watched Sarah Palin on TV and she's beside herself. Here's what the old witch has to write.

Op-ed today's Los Angeles Times: “Here's the good news. Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing, the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party, are trying to appease the gender gap with a first ever female vice president. We owe this to women and many men too who have picketed, gone on hunger strikes, or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote.”

OK, that's why this happened, because of the hunger strikes so women could vote.

“We owe it to [former Rep.] Shirley Chisholm [D-NY], who first took the 'white-male-only' sign off the White House, and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny to win 18 million votes.

”But here is even better news. It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need."