In her final memoir, Gloria Steinem looked back with hope and planned to
live to 100
[September 04, 2026]
By HILLEL ITALIE
NEW YORK (AP) — Gloria Steinem died just weeks before the release of her
latest memoir, “An Unexpected Life.” She was 92, but gave no indication
in the book that it would be her last.
“As I write this, I’m both older than I ever imagined I would become and
happier than I ever imagined I could be,” she wrote in the introduction.
“I’ve been rewarded with friends who are my chosen family. I have
trusted friends in other countries, and we strive to be safe and free,
and share hopes for a peaceful democracy in the world.”
Steinem added that she planned to live to 100.
“An Unexpected Life” follows such previous Steinem memoirs as
“Revolution from Within” and “Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions.”
In the latest book, she looks back to her childhood in Ohio in the 1940s
and ’50s, when women were expected to marry and raise children. It
continues through her political awakening, her rise in the second-wave
feminist movement and her stature as an inspiration to young people, who
in turn inspired her.
Here are some highlights from the upcoming memoir, scheduled for
publication Sept. 22:
Spending two years in India after college changed Steinem's life
"Being in that country shattered Western romantic illusions with little
ceremony, but it replaced them with new impressions far more real and
less easily forgotten. As I learned once I was there, many Americans
seem to have skipped from a sketchy knowledge of ancient India to a
misunderstanding of its diversity. The teachings of Gandhi introduced me
to nonhierarchical thinking, which I came to learn was the most common
way of thinking in much of the rest of the world, too."
She counted conversation as a blessing
“My favorite model of human communication is sitting with others around
a kitchen table or in a living room, anywhere we can gather equally and
communicate in person with all five senses: a consciousness-raising
group, a rap group, a book club, a quilting bee, or a talking circle. It
doesn’t matter, as long as it’s a place where one can tell the truth,
say an ‘unsayable’ thing, and hear other people say, ‘You feel like
that? I thought only I felt like that!’”
An icon who set boundaries
“Terry Southern, a popular author and co-author of ‘Candy,’ a
pornographic novel, was very visible on the New York social scene. I
didn’t know him well, but for some reason we were both awaiting a mutual
friend in that friend’s office, talking and sitting next to each other
on the couch. He reached over, took hold of my wrists so I couldn’t
move, and tried to kiss me. Without a moment’s thought, I bit him on the
cheek. If you haven’t been trained to submit, you are like a cat; you
just respond.”
[to top of second column]
|
Gloria Steinem of the National Organization for Women attends an
Equal Rights Amendment rally outside the White House on July 4,
1981, in Washington. (AP Photo/Scott Applewhite, File)
 She mused about relationships
between men and women
“Other leaps of consciousness have actually been quite funny, like
figuring out that despite the term man-hating lesbian — which I hope
and believe is long forgotten — it may be the women who live with
men who are more likely to hate them.”
Not all audiences are alike
“The worst audience for me has always been establishment males, and
the worst circumstance has been one in which I have to convince them
on behalf of some very important but unpopular issue. In those
moments, I feel responsible not only for myself but also for the
people who can’t be there but should be represented.”
Some second thoughts. (And, no, she didn't miss having children)
“Of course, I do have regrets. For one, I spent way too much time
doing what was expected of me, and not enough doing what I loved.
Given my generation, I also grew up assuming that I would have to
marry my identity, not become it. This scary idea caused me to put
off marriage and to live a temporary life. Not until my forties did
I begin to see that a different kind of life was possible, one in
which I wasn’t bound to fulfill my husband’s dreams and depend on
him financially. I learned that the work I loved could also create
the future I wanted.”
An optimist to the end
“People often ask me how I stay hopeful. I always explain that hope
is a form of planning. I think about twenty, thirty, even fifty
years ago and the leaps of consciousness I’ve experienced because of
the women’s movement. Some of what we dreamed of decades ago is now
really here.”
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
