Gloria Steinem at 77

Angela Hill, of the Oakland Tribune, caught up with 77-yeard-old feminist Gloria Steinem last month in San Ramon at the Marriott Hotel during the 2012 East Bay Women's Conference, sponsored by the Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau. Here's what Steinem had to say, on:

Television portrayals of women today

Women are portrayed as ornaments. The media shapes our views of what we can be. Part of the backlash says, if we just changed our bodies, society would be fine. I'm not trying to demonize these people. I don't know the Kardashians or Snooki. But what is going to happen to Snooki later in life? She is a joke.

The GOP's war on women

The Republican Party supported the Equal Rights Amendment before the Democrats did. What's happening now is about a relatively small percentage of religious and economic extremists that have taken over the party.

The younger generation

I tell young women: Listen. Speaking, telling the truth and listening is the key. Sometimes a mom will come up to me and say her teenage daughter doesn't know who I am. I don't care if she knows who I am. I care if she knows who she is.