I grew up in the feminist era, and the underlying principle of judging people by their individual quality, rather than by their class, sex or race, was imbued into my character from a very early age. A life-time of experience hasn't changed that fundamental view, but it has been tempered with an understanding that populations of individuals will still exhibit group traits, and that is nowhere more true than with gender--women exhibit not so much different talents, than different desires.

I went to school with a number of women who were clearly smarter than I was. After 30 years it has been interesting to see that these immensely talented women made choices to be mothers and wives, making their careers secondary considerations. Without exception, none regret their choices and find their relationships--with husbands and children, far more satisfying than their work. I was dumber, but achieved "more" over the same period, using Steinem's calculus. Ironically, Steinem is using a masculine standard to make these judgments. I don't consider at all that I've achieved more especially since I've gotten older, I recognized the utter futility of the so-called rat race, and the sublime value of family and friends--it just took me longer, which I guess proves that the girls were indeed smarter.

While abortion is legal in the United States, Steinem says the reproductive freedom she fought for is under attack, as seen in efforts to include limits on abortion in the health care reform debate now in Congress.

This seems to confirm my point--Steinem thinks like a man, wanting women to engage in the same traditional masculine promiscuous behavior. I look around at all the lonely men in their late forties and early fifties who jumped from bed to bed during their lives and it seems to me that the feminine social norm of fidelity is a much better deal for all concerned. Comparing the thrill of sexual conquest with the security of a 28 year marriage is no contest, and I know I could not have achieved what I have, or endured what I have had to, without the support of a true companion.

Yet, she still maintains that the United States is not ready to elect a woman president because "female authority is still associated with a domestic setting and seems inappropriate in a public setting."

Again--I think this is about the choices a lot of very smart and capable women make. Bear in mind that, regardless of gender, you have to have some sort of personality dysfunction to run for office these days. The fact that there are relatively few women crazy enough to want the job seems to speak well for the collective mental health of women.

Many still remember Steinem for her turn nearly 50 years ago as a Playboy Bunny in an expose of the working conditions of the women waitresses at Hugh Hefner's famous clubs.

She still has not forgiven the 83-year-old Hefner, whom she calls "a joke."

"To make amends with him would be like a Jewish person making amends with an anti-Semite. I am not going to do it," Steinem said.

Interesting comment. I can't help but seem them as two sides of the same coin, believing in exactly the same prerogatives, but from a sexually partisan perspective.