Steinem suggests that as women age, they experience certain “life events that are most radicalizing for women,” i.e. discrimination in the work place, a lack of equality in marriage, the pain of childbirth, and the social consequences of aging, which tend to lead them toward more radical politics (240). The possibility that this is not the case with women was fascinating to read about. I’ve always accepted and subsequently worried about the trend of growing more conservative with age. This idea struck me as very intuitive and provocative. “As young women, whether students or not, we’re still in the stage most valued by male-dominant cultures: we have our full potential as workers, wives, sex partners, and childbearers.” (239) “As students,” she explains, “women are probably treated with more equality than we ever will be again…the school is only too glad to get the tuitions we pay.” Furthermore, Steinem proposes that this trend is completely reversed with women. In this piece, Steinem challenges the truism that individuals begin their adulthood with liberal values and become increasingly conservative as they age. One essay I found especially inspiring was on Why Young Women are More Conservative. She is always empathetic – even with herself – but never excuses or justifies anti-feminist behavior. Of her undercover journalism stint as a Playboy Bunny, she writes: “Though I always identified emotionally with other women, including the Bunnies I worked with, I had been educated to believe that my only chance for seriousness lay in proving my difference from them” (19).

She is honest about her pre-feminist ideas without punishing herself. Part of what makes Steinem so enjoyable to read is how she manages to be critical of her former beliefs without any accompanying regret. She wonders how men would feel if they received a “ Spinster of Arts or Mistress of Science degree,” and then worked hard for a “ sistership” (178). She discusses how terms like “reproductive freedom” and “pro-choice” foreground women and their autonomy, altering how they perceive themselves and what freedoms they are entitled to.

In Words and Change she shows how the coinage of terms like “sexual harassment” and “battered women” changed the way violence toward women was perceived by the general public. Steinem writes a lot about the power of language to change thought. She can easily fool you into believing you are engaging in a casual conversation with a friend, only to shock you sentences later with a thought so provocative that you start to think your friend may be the most humble genius you’ve ever known. This collection of Steinem’s essays from the 70s and 80s was inspiring and accessible at the same time. “Finding language that will allow people to act together while cherishing each other’s individuality is probably the most feminist and therefore truly revolutionary function of writers.” (2)

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