'Mother of feminism' Gloria Steinem tackles the subject of Kim Kardashian.

Gloria Steinem is a feminist icon. A champion for women’s rights.

And she feels bad for Kim Kardashian.

The 81-year-old author and political activist told Mia Freedman on the No Filter podcast that nude selfies don’t empower other women, and they’ve made Kim Kardashian “an object of ridicule”.

“I’m not here to judge other people…I think it is empowering to have our own media. People can get their messages out without going through the minds of an editor, a publisher, a sponsor, and that’s great. It is completely foolhardy to think that taking a picture with no content is empowering.”

“I mean, I feel bad for Kim Kardashian, she’s an object of ridicule. Because, it has no content. It’s only about the surface.”

Hear Gloria speaking to Mia Freedman here: (post continues after audio)

Before her internet-breaking nude selfies, when Kim Kardashian was fat-shamed while pregnant, Steinem lept her her defence, telling US Weekly that a woman’s body is her’s and her’s alone, and that women’s bodies should never be public property.

“If our bodies are treated as ornaments instead of instruments, that’s because we are rebelling because it’s an effort to distract us,” she said. “So don’t be distracted. Why bother getting caught up in that?”

Some of the ridicule Steinem was talking about stems from images such as these:

#liberated

A photo posted by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on Mar 7, 2016 at 10:21pm PST

Societies manipulation of body image is something Steinem has long protested. She says our culture’s obsession with the female body, the objectification of the body makes women the subject of the male gaze, disempowers them and limits their economic, political and professional influence.

The former editor of Ms. magazine told Mia Freedman that she’s connected with the work of other millennial feminists, and felt encouraged by the type of “celebrity feminism”, that Emma Watson, Taylor Swift and Beyonce stand for.

“Being well known is like having a little printing press.” she said.  “So, why not use it? Absolutely. It’s ridiculous that they [some commentators] critisize it. Pay no attention to them.”

She says sitting and watching comedian Amy Schumer’s movie, Trainwreck was for her, a pop-culture turning point.

“I realised I had never sat in a movie that was over-the-line sexual and felt safe.”

“I was not going to be humiliated. I was not going to be eviscerated. Because it was Amy.”

Steinam, in Australia promoting her new memoir My Life on the Road,  also addressed rising rates of plastic surgery, saying while it’s a woman’s choice, she hopes the obsession passes.

“It’s mostly about the obsession with being young because young is when you are valued. It’s not about criticising the women who have plastic surgery, it’s about changing the pressure that makes them feel as if they have to.”

“I have met women in the paid labor force who have lied their age down by 20 years just to get a job. It’s tragic.”

The author, by some regarded as the “mother of feminism” says the only way to change it is to rebel as much as we can against images of beauty and youth.

“The more people rebel, the more we will normalise being normal.” she said.

The full interview with Gloria Steinem and Mia Freedman is in itunes, via the Mamamia Podcasts app (iOS only), or here: