Gloria Steinem died last week.
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She was quoted in The Guardian this morning as having once said,
People are always asking me, “Who will you pass the torch to?” The question makes me angry. There is no one torch — there are many torches — and I’m using my torch to light other torches.
She certainly lit my torch with the early issues of Ms. magazine. I was already a budding feminist by the time the first issue came out, but that magazine lit a fire under me. It lit fires under a lot of us and month after month kept those fires burning despite all attempts to smother the embers.
I am a nobody, but a nobody who lives her life completely differently than the way she was raised in the ’50s and ’60s. My heart, mind, and actions were radically transformed by second-wave feminism and the opportunities available to me were as well. My life became one of choice, thanks to women like Steinem.
I do not believe it is possible to be an ethical or effective therapist to women and girls without a feminist praxis.
I am nobody special, well-known, or powerful. But I believe that every small thought, word, or deed has the power to effect change, however infinitesimal. Multiply me by the millions of other women and men touched by her work and you have the lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it–and with that we can move a world.1
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What influence has Steinem had on you? How has she changed your thinking? What opportunities has the movement opened to you that would not otherwise have been available? How has second-wave feminism changed the practice of your profession/trade?
- (with thanx and a tip o’ the hat to Mr. Archimedes). ↩︎
Reference
Solnit, R., Diallo, R., Eltahawy, M., Ensler), V. (formerly E., Gillard, J., Robinson, J., Shafak, E., & Cosslett, R. L. (2026, September 9). ‘Courage and contradictions’: What Gloria Steinem meant to feminist writers from around the world. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/sep/09/gloria-steinem-feminist-writers-global-panel-american-civil-rights-activist
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