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Gloria Steinem
Good day! It’s Thursday, Sept. 3. On this date in 1783, Great Britain officially recognized the independence of its 13 former colonies when the Treaty of Paris was signed. Interesting fact: Benjamin Franklin, one of the negotiators, tried to get Britain to give us Canada. The Brits said no, but did give up a lot of territory that essentially doubled US land: The fledgling country expanded west to the Mississippi River, north to Canada, and south to the northern border of Florida, which went to Spain.
Last week’s Fast Forward posited that the Callaway Golf controversy was about so much more than one stupid commercial. You can read it here. Find all past newsletters on the Fast Forward homepage.
🌞 The sun rose in Boston at 6:11 a.m. and will set at 7:14 p.m. for 13 hours and 3 minutes of sunlight. We’re still 19 days from astronomical autumn, but The Old Farmer’s Almanac is out with its winter forecast. Let’s just say you don’t want to be in western Mass., most of New York and Pennsylvania, and parts of Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. Check it out here.
⚾️ Hey, sport: The tennis US Open is in full swing, and the biggest upset so far came in the first round, when superstar Novak Djokovic, who has won this tournament four times, lost to Mariano Navone of Argentina, who is unseeded. It was the first time Djokovic lost in the first round in a Grand Slam event in 10 years (2006 at the Australian Open).
🙏 Gloria Steinem’s passion and courage, in her own words
I’ve grown so sick of hearing Trump brag about this economy that I’ve been looking at significant economic indicators under Trump, Biden, and Obama. But then I heard that Gloria Steinem died at age 92, and I had to pay tribute. I owe her, and courageous women like her, my career, my independence, my life. So do millions of other women here and around the world. She was a person of enormous consequence. Here are just a few of her memorable lines:
If feminism means anything, it means taking responsibility for ourselves: for our own lives and actions. It is not “women as victims,” but women refusing to be victims.
Any woman who chooses to behave like a full human being should be warned that the armies of the status quo will treat her as something of a dirty joke. That’s their natural and first weapon. She will need her sisterhood.
No man can call himself liberal, or radical, or even a conservative advocate of fair play, if his work depends in any way on the unpaid or underpaid labor of women at home, or in the office.
I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine marriage and a career.
Revolutions that last don’t happen from the top down. They happen from the bottom up.
Don’t think about making women fit the world — think about making the world fit women.
We’ll never solve the feminization of power until we solve the masculinity of wealth.
Many of us have raised our daughters more like our sons, but too few have raised our sons more like our daughters.
So when I hear other young women now say, “I hope I can have as interesting a life as my mother,” it is so moving to me. Because what that means is that her mother lived her own life.
At my age, in this still hierarchical time, people often ask me if I'm “passing the torch.” I explain that I'm keeping my torch, thank you very much — and I'm using it to light the torches of others. Because only if each of us has a torch will there be enough light.
The New York Times: Gloria Steinem, Personification of the Women’s Movement, Dies at 92 (🎁)
She challenged sexist assumptions, helping women develop a sense of self-worth and gain a measure of equality at work, at home and in society at large.
Show Magazine: A Bunny’s Tale, Part 1 by Gloria Steinem
A Bunny’s Tale, Part 2 by Gloria Steinem
Shorter-than-usual newsletter heading into Labor Day weekend. Enjoy the holiday. In the next edition, I’ll get back to Trump’s economic track record and also share your stories about protection strategies and more.
If you want to contact me directly, email thfastforward@substack.com.