Hello my fellow blog readers!
I am excited to post today because I have started (and almost completed!) an assigned book for class. I chose to read My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem because I did a fair amount of moving around as I grew up and I wanted to see if I could relate to Steinem’s experience. I quickly realized that my upbringing was the complete opposite of hers. Her father’s profession of selling antiques (and enjoyment of traveling) brought her all over the United States, while my father’s job at a corporation brought us overseas. I am impressed by the amount of work that Steinem has put in to help others through organizing, campaigning, and public speaking.
A couple of Steinem’s topics in the novel include feminism and racism. In terms of feminism, Steinem discusses sexism, female oppression, and reproductive freedom (pro-choice). Also, she mentions her many experiences with minorities. These range from an angry and rude Ukrainian taxi driver to a man thanking Steinem for her los feminicidios article in Ms. Magazine. Her passion for both sexism issues and racism issues conflict during the 2008 Democratic Primary between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Steinem talks about the difficulty in choosing to support Clinton over Obama and the backlash she faced.
I am currently 70% of the way through the book and I am excited to keep reading. Before starting, I didn’t know much about feminism. Steinem has helped me understand that women have had it harder compared to men in many ways. Her examples of women in the airline industry as stewardesses and women working hard as waitresses have helped me better understand a wage gap between men and women. I also did some research on her. I watched a PBS interview with her, and Wikipedia told me that her stepson is Christian Bale. Very cool!
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