[media-credit name=’KATE BRENNER/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Nationally known feminist Gloria Steinem visited Madison Tuesday to celebrate the 30th anniversary of a local domestic abuse prevention group.

Steinem honored the Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, a Dane County feminist organization working to end domestic abuse.

Greeted at a luncheon on Monona Terrace by nearly 600 people, Steinem spoke about the reality of domestic violence and said steps groups like DAIS must continue to help solve the gender issues that plague the world today.

"I grew up in Toledo, and it was not at all uncommon for women to be beaten by their husbands, and it was accepted as just part of life," Steinem said, continuing to speak of a culture of masculinity that promotes aggression and violence.

Steinem said domestic abuse could happen to anyone, adding it often happens gradually, making it hard for a woman to escape.

"There's a terrible parable about a frog who is dropped in a pan of hot water and leaps out to save itself. But when the frog is in water that is heated gradually, it dies," Steinem said. "It's the gradual nature of it that is so lethal."

However, according to Steinem, this culture that breeds domestic abuse has only dominated a tiny portion of human existence.

"This [gender] divide is relatively new in human history. As far as we can tell, 95 percent wasn't hierarchical. … It was more about balance with nature, not conquering nature," Steinem said.

This is important to remember, she added, because it means if this way of relating to each other had a beginning, it also has an end.

Steinem also said domestic violence is not only the fault of the idea of masculinity but also the idea of femininity that pervades today's culture.

"In the last 30 years, we've raised our daughters more like our sons, but I bet a lot of us haven't had the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters," Steinem said.

Steinem also spoke to the audience about how solving the problem of domestic violence would help solve more worldly issues surrounding violence. DAIS's slogan, "Peace Begins at Home," she said, captures this idea perfectly.

"These gender roles that create violence in the home normalize that violence outside the home,” Steinem said. “Too many chiefs of state have not taken this into account.”

The work DAIS does in Madison to fight domestic abuse is the most important work one could do, according to Steinem. In the past year, DAIS served more than 6,000 people in Dane County, meaning more than 16 people in the area are seeking help regarding domestic abuse each day.

University of Wisconsin basketball coach Bo Ryan was featured in a video presentation at the event Tuesday promoting the Delta Project, a prevention program that works with young men to help them form healthy attitudes about women and relationships.

"As a coach I have an opportunity to mentor young men," Ryan said in the video. "Together, as a team, we are all part of the solution."

The program is currently offered at some Madison high schools, community centers and UW.

Steinem encouraged the organization to continue looking at the broader issues connected with domestic violence.

"In a way, we are still standing by the edge of the river plucking out people who are drowning, but we have rarely been able to go to the head of the river and keep people from falling in," Steinem said.

The luncheon was DAIS's major fundraiser for the year with plates priced at $100.