Guest Editorial by Gloria Steinem

The time has come to take an inventory of the ground womyn have gained in the battle for equality in this country, and the struggles that we still face in a nation that looks upon us as third class citizens. For while there has been much progress, the road ahead is a long one, fraught with peril and obstacles.

Let’s take a look at the most significant changes the equal rights movement has given womyn thus far.

• More equitable distribution of STDs. In the old days, venereal diseases were mostly the province of men and a small, select group of womyn forced into a life of coital servitude by their white, male oppressors. With the advent of the womyn’s rights movement, every womyn is much freer to do whatever she wishes with her body, whether that be alcohol and LSD-fueled threesomes with strangers in the parking lot of a nightclub, or more traditional threesomes with people she knows casually on a mutual acquaintance’s cabin cruiser. The choice is hers, and accordingly she has earned the right to acquire these heretofore exclusive diseases.
• Upper body strength drastically increased. Held back for centuries by men, the success of the womyn’s rights movement has freed us from having doors opened for us at every turn as if we were anxiety-ridden puppies, too weak to open them for ourselves. Freed from the restraints of our former masters, you can hardly walk down the street today and look at a womyn without noticing the rippling forearm fortitude feminism has wrought. Indeed, it is strength that allows for both unaided door opening and the swift pummeling of any ignorant Neanderthal who continues to treat us like a frail daisy. If for no other reason than this, the struggle for our own personal sense of strength has been worthwhile.
• The View. Finally a mass-media venue for womyn to talk about the things that womyn want to hear about. And furthermore, the opportunity to have strong, intelligent womyn discussing the important issues of the day has certainly put to rest the stereotypes that we are catty, petty beings who are only interested in comparing clothing, dishing gossip, and bad mouthing our sisters.
• Bill Clinton’s presidency. Not since the days of JFK (who, may I remind you was gunned down by an anti-feminism extremist) have womyn been so welcome in the White House as they were under William Jefferson Clinton. We are also heartened by the rumors that womyn will be equally well-received in a Hillary Clinton White House.
• The right to choose.It was not that long ago that a womyn’s gaia-given right to decide what to do with her own reproductive system could only be discussed in the back alleys of large cities. So I am often brought to tears today when I hear of a mother of three making the decision to terminate those children right up until their twelfth birthday. We’ve come a long way, babies. That is freedom. Equality. True choice.
• Muslim women.Since the events of 9/11 I have personally received a great deal of grief on the topic of our Muslim sisters and the supposedly poor treatment they receive. My response is always the same. Who are we to judge what these womyn truly want? Are we so arrogant as to assume that our culture should apply to everyone? Where the less-enlightened choose to see a womyn being lashed as oppression, I choose to see it as yet another facet of sexual freedom, being expressed publicly, and loudly. Have we forgotten from whence we came? This is yet another issue of empowering womyn to make their own decisions, whether we agree with them or not as seen through our jaded Western eyes. To paraphrase noted Rush frontman Geddy Lee, “If they choose to be genitally reconfigured, they still have made a choice.”

Have there been advances? An intellectually honest person cannot look at the aforementioned accomplishments and say “no.” However, there are still many more battles to be fought. As I sit here and write this, there are still real, live men out there who continue to engage in such sexist activities as paying for dinner, pulling a womyn’s chair out for her, and imposing their fascist beliefs on their young daughters by refusing to allow them to wear clothing from feminist icon Madonna’s new Eager Teen Whore line.

I promise to keep fighting the good fight sisters.

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