It's especially times like this I miss not being able to talk to my Natureman, who I always claimed was a much better feminist than I. It wasn't only our age difference; I will also blame some of it on being raised in the South.
Steinem was the journalist who took the disjointed women's movement to a national conversation. During 1972, my senior year of high school, she became the co-founder of Ms Magazine, the first magazine owned and run by women, replacing recipes and fashion tips with writings re: equal pay, abortion, and domestic violence.
Steinem also helped create the National Political Women's Caucus, advocating for more women being elected, leading reproductive rights discussions, and the Equal Rights Amendment.
What I didn't know was that, ironically at age 22 (1957), after graduating from Smith College, she found herself pregnant en route to India. Her then fiancé, a man 22 years her senior, didn't know about the pregnancy. It didn't dawn on her that France where she headed to seek an abortion, was an impossibility as it was a Catholic nation. Her solution awaited her in England, where a doctor told her not to reveal his name and to do what she wanted with her life.
-The great thing about a movement is you have each other.
-She who fights for authenticity and compassion is happier.
Ms Steinem was a force, and she got the last word as the interviewer even left the room. He would have to wait, like the rest of us, to hear her final message.
Rest in peace, Gloria. You had a life well lived, and we women have a better life thanks to you and other women who spoke up...
