In a speech titled “The Politics of Feminism: A Celebration of Diversity,” Gloria Steinem said Tuesday night that “power is [still] by no means equally distributed,” and she defined feminism as “a revolution, not a public relations movement.”

Steinem first remarked on the nearly 1,200 people in attendance, saying “Who says this is a conservative place?”

Steinem said the coming election is the most important election in her lifetime.

“We are on the edge of having a non-participant democracy … we could have as few as one-third of the people deciding … if a president will be impeached or not,” she said. Steinem said the decision will not be determined by the question of merit, but by the question of which party is in the majority in the House and Senate.

Steinem urged attendees to “get mad and vote.”

“People died for this vote, and we’re definitely going to use it,” she said.

She said there are still forces trying to keep voter turnout low so that those people with power and money can triumph.

“Voting isn’t the most we can do, no, but it is the least we can do,” Steinem said.

Steinem also talked about the effect of some important people and events being left out of the history books.

“The true diversity of our culture has been subdued or even obliterated by the ways in which we learned history,” she said.

Steinem said she wants to make a button that reads, “The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.

“Somehow, we think it has always been this way, and therefore, it always will be this way … but it wasn’t,” she said.

Steinem also discussed the use of the word feminist, saying the term has been “demonized” in today’s society.

She said she hopes people look to the dictionary definition of the word to see a feminist is “a person, male or female, who believes in full social, economic, political equality” of men and women.

Steinem said she hopes “we will not allow anyone to take our word away.”

Steinem said sexual harassment is another term that has been “perverted.”

“I am concerned about the endurance of the sexual harassment laws we all desperately need,” Steinem said.

Steinem said she is disturbed by the fact that the ultra-conservatives who most oppose sexual harassment laws are now the ones labeling President Clinton as a sexual harasser.

She said right-wing groups are trying to peacefully assassinate the president, “even though he handed them the weapon.”

She said what bothers her most about the Clinton scandal is what is happening to Monica Lewinsky. She also said the fact that the feminist movement is not being heard on this issue is “outrageous.”

“We’ve been commenting up the whazoo; it’s just that we’re not saying what they want us to say,” she said.

Steinem also explained why she feels feminism and diversity are intertwined.

“I would say it is not possible to be a feminist without being anti-racist, because feminism by definition means all females,” she said.

She said people also need to understand the reason why there have always been historical alliances between the movements for sexual justice and racial justice.

Steinem said in the United States, the bodies of white women have historically been protected and restricted because they were necessary for maintenance of some degree of visible difference between the races.

“On the contrary, black women’s bodies were available to both white and black men … [because black women] produce people marked on their skins as cheap labor,” she said.

Steinem said taking over the bodies of white women is a means of production of a “superior” race.

“[For example], when Hitler was elected — on a year of low voter turnout — among his very first official acts was to padlock the family planning clinics and declare abortion a crime against the state.

“Hitler was the ultra-right-wing declaring control over women’s bodies so the Aryan race would remain pure, whereas the impure could be handled by annihilating them or turning them into slave labor,” she said.

Steinem also said both the suffragist movement and the abolitionist movement found a great deal of inspiration in native cultures.

She said celebrating diversity can be seen as a selfish act because people learn from the experience.

“It is in our interest as white folks not to grow up believing we are the majority when we are a tiny minority,” Steinem said.

After the speech, Steinem answered questions about the White House Project, the most important issue facing women today, the association between the women’s movement and the gay and lesbian movement, ecofeminism, the future of Ms. magazine, the scandal surrounding President Clinton and the recent death of Matthew Shepard.