Studying the ‘insight’ of Steinem

Gloria Steinem turned 90 in March. She is the oldest living feminist from an era when this was a sign of being a “serious woman.”

That hasn’t changed all that much. Most progressives and even some conservatives label themselves with the big “F,” proud to announce to the world that they matter.

The thinking goes that unless you call yourself a feminist, people will send you back to the kitchen, forcibly impregnate you and hide your shoes. But that attitude is long past its heyday. Gloria, however, is not.

She has tried to remain relevant by popping up and giving her opinion on various current events, like when Donald Trump was elected.

The day after the inauguration, she showed up at the Pink Hat Jamboree saying things like: “We are here and around the world for a deep democracy that says we will not be quiet, we will not be controlled, we will work for a world in which all countries are connected. God may be in the details, but the goddess is in connections. We are at one with each other, we are looking at each other, not up. No more asking daddy.”

Apparently, Steinem hasn’t lost any of her eloquence.

I have been told my entire life that Gloria Steinem made the world safer, better, more equitable, cleaner, brighter and just darn more enjoyable for women like me. I was told that I stand on her shoulders and should be grateful that she allowed me to practice law, write a column, open a bank account, study abroad and cut my meat into little pieces all by myself.

I decided to read more of what she’s said, because that Pink Hat speech wasn’t all that impressive.

So I bought a commemorative book of her quotations. After all, she made my life possible, so I want to be able to reference her in my conversations with other people.

Here’s one quote that impressed me, given the fact that the iconic feminist is a huge booster of abortion rights: “Your daughters are watching you.”

My reaction was: not if you’ve already aborted them, Gloria.

Another quote was particularly compelling because of its absolute irony: “For women, the only alternative to being a feminist is being a masochist.”

The irony comes in the fact that feminism has actually destroyed the lives of so many women who were otherwise content to focus on one of the most important jobs of all: giving life, raising families, being the “goddess” of their own homes and beloved of their husbands. Note that I say “one of” the most important jobs.

There are many women who have never married, never had children and who chose to work outside of the home. Those choices are legitimate, and I don’t know anyone who thinks they are not, least of all this writer who has done exactly that.

The problem came in the feminists’ assertion that staying home had no value, or that the value actually needed to be monetized in this market economy.

The ability to bear a child was considered just another option, a hobby, an attribute of womanhood and not the greatest biological and spiritual gift that we have.

For attempting to destroy and demean that, I will never forgive Steinem and her cohorts.

Another quote that I found particularly interesting was this: “If the shoe doesn’t fit, must we change the foot?”

The brilliance in this lies in its simplicity, and absolute narcissism, which has often been a hallmark of second wave feminism.

Gloria is basically saying that if you don’t like the way that the world is structured, you should change it to fit your particular needs.

There is no sense that perhaps your needs aren’t that important, or that if they are, someone else’s needs might take precedence.

There is this single-minded and simple-minded idea that whatever Lola wants, Lola gets, regardless of the consequences.

I also think that this was an early portent of the trans movement, as in, if the gender doesn’t fit, let us change the pronouns. But I digress.

One of my favorite Gloriaisms is the following: “America is an enormous frosted cupcake, in the middle of millions of starving people.”

Who knew that Gloria and I had a similar attraction to this particular dessert?

One of my trademark comebacks, accompanied by a smirk, is “OK, cupcake.” How moving that the glorious one and I both employ “cupcake” as a pejorative.

Then there is her series of comments about men: “The surest way to be alone is to get married”, “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle,” and my favorite “If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.”

This is Steinem’s core belief: men are toxic.

This is also the principle that undergirds her type of feminism. Any man who calls himself a feminist is a man who looks in the mirror and cries.

I’d say that any man who calls himself a feminist is a man that deserves a woman like Gloria. Steinem is an icon.

But I have come to the realization that it’s not because she’s particularly clever.

It’s because anyone who can write this sort of stuff for this long without being laughed out of the room is pretty darn amazing.