Marilyn Monroe was known for playing dumb blondes, but historian Lois Banner argues she also played a key role in the development in the women's movement.


In her new book, Marilyn: The Passion and the Paradox, Lois Banner points out that the movie star was a powerful career woman, at a time when that was very unusual. Monroe was also one of the first public figures to reveal that she had been sexually abused as a child. And Banner argues that the way Monroe used her sexuality as a source of power anticipated third-wave feminism.