“‘Wait for better times.’ That’s what the slaves always hear. ‘This is only temporary….‘” Part of the problem does seem to be that Gloria Steinem and others got as moderate as they needed to to still be seen as “reasonable,” and ended up saying nothing. “Wait for better times” is also precisely what my most incompetent chair would say when I pointed out that hir (in)activity had turned two positions into revolving doors.
By that time many strange things had happened, and my eyes were already wider than saucers. I therefore did not decode the sentence and accepted the idea that it was I who was impatient. Ze had suffered greatly and it was my turn, my field’s turn to sacrifice. (Ze was a Full; I was on the tenure track.) I thought, well, in this universe, perhaps that is true. Ze won prizes, and I got stalled.
“Wait for better times.” The truth is that that is what the slaves always hear. My yogic statement for this hour is that in that sense, the sense of the right time to strike, the right time to make a change, the right time to finish, the right time to get something done — in that sense “better times” are always now; they have always just arrived.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
I can hardly keep up with you, now that you are posting so actively. And so many things are going through my mind. Do you think it’s significant that I wrote that story when I was around your present age? I felt very embattled and isolated then.
I’m reading Ehrenreich’s new book, and she has some embarrassing quotes from Steinem. Really, don’t think Steinem was ever a friend of womankind. Above all, her exhortation to look within to improve their lives is one too many women took seriously, to the detriment of themselves and the people around them. Her fond belief was that “women’s lib” would be good for men, because then women would share the burdens of life and men would stop having so many coronaries. I kid you not, as they say.
I’ve been meaning to get Ehrenreich’s book, too: http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/brightsided.htm
Steinem, yes, I thought the statement about the coronaries was a marketing strategy or something but when she came up with the “look within” line I knew we were lost, although I ought to have thought more about its implications for daily life post feminism.
Me posting, I’m about to slow down, though. Also I just got off the phone with commenter “human” and we decided that the way to fight all of this was not by looking within but by organizing.
Age, I am not sure, because my embattled and isolated feeling period started quite a lot earlier, I am not sure how to pinpoint when but maybe 10 years ago. I have the feeling I’m about to come out of it… I’m not sure of the answer to this question.
I have figured out what it might be: the year 1993, I felt very embattled and isolated then, too.
(You do realize we have the same life, right — in (sub)tropical climes in US outlying islands, visiting the West Coast, dealing with prisoners, ceramics, yoga, swimming, you know, all of that; I think we were in the same mood in 1993.)