In an emotional tribute, Oprah Winfrey praised the writer’s (Steinem’s) “courage and persistence”.

“She leaves us with more freedom than she inherited and with the responsibility to keep widening that freedom for the women and girls who come next,” the media mogul mused. “What a life. What a legacy. What a difference she made.” — Cover Media, September 04, 2026

When I was a child my heroes were cowboys like Roy Rogers and The Lone Ranger.  I loved the good guys back in the days when they were easy to identify.  They were the brave men who stood tall against  villains with black mustaches curling oddly around snarling lips – those were the best. I wanted to be one of them. You could have your Superman with his Big S on his chest but seriously, who would go flying around in an outfit as tight as his? Come on, man. That wasn’t believable.

Cowboys, on the other hand, rode beautiful horses, wore boots with their jeans or buckskin pants, and had great wide-brimmed hats with no worries about kryptonite. Their pretty girlfriends knew who they were and were prepared to wait for them while they fought their battles in the dusty streets and sage-covered hills.  They always won because they could outdraw or outsmart their enemies. It was a perfect world for a little girl watching westerns with her daddy on Saturday mornings in the 1950s in rural southeast Texas.

When that little girl grew up and lived to be eighty years old, her heroes had to change because her world had revealed itself to be imperfect. I’ve had new heroes who don’t ride horses or wear six-shooters on a regular basis.  Not surprisingly for an old dyke, most of my heroes are sheroes. I could list hundreds, but I’ll name ten in no order.  Susan B. Anthony.   Gertrude Stein.   Barbara Jordan.   Gloria Steinem.  Dolly Parton.  Ann Richards.   Molly Ivins.   Edie Windsor.   Meryl Streep.  Michelle Obama. These are the activists whose courage stands out to me. The villains may not have mustaches any more but these women met them at some point in their lives and stood up to them through their words and actions. 

Gloria Steinem grew up in the 1940s and 50s during the time when women’s roles were being redefined by world wars, shifting geographical boundaries, higher educational opportunities. As she matured she entered the world of work through journalism at the New York Times. Her commitment to social justice, equal rights for women, and determination to make a difference wherever injustices reigned supreme led her to become one of the early leaders in the second-wave feminist movement of the late 1960s and 70s. 

Steinem wrote nine books in her life, and I have great admiration for anyone who has the tenacity to send their stories to the great unknown. I think she was brave to fill empty pages with her words. A word warrior. In 1983, she had published Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions – her first published collection of essays. Topics included sexual harassment, genital mutilation, and the words that spoke louder to me personally was the essay on unequal pay for equal work. I totally got that one.

Her book tour brought Steinem in 1983 to the University of South Carolina’s System in Conway, South Carolina, known as USC  Coastal Carolina. I’m not sure what led me to make the two-hours drive by myself from Columbia to hear her speak, but I did. I was thirty-seven years old at the time, remained mostly closeted, frustrated by my perceptions of the failures of the second wave of the Women’s Movement, already weary of teaching accounting at a technical college in Columbia, and wondering what I could do to make the sweeping social changes I felt were so desperately needed.

Gloria Steinem’s speech answered me in an unexpected way. Before she closed, she challenged everyone in the audience to close their eyes and think of one thing we could do when we went home in our everyday lives that might be thought of by people as an outrageous act, one small act of rebellion in our daily lives. That was the heart of her message to her listeners that day in Conway, South Carolina, in 1983.  As usual, I had focused on the big picture and forgotten about the little moments I looked past. I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

If you live long enough, you’ll figure out the world isn’t perfect and you’ll definitely meet some nasty villains, but remember you aren’t alone in the battles. Gloria Steinem, Dolly Parton, and a whole host of sheroes have gone before you. May the spirits of those women ride with you, give you comfort, courage, and encouragement in the showdown moments of your life..