GLORIA STEINEM: IMPERFECT ACTIVIST OR PERFECTLY IMPERIOUS MYTH?

It seems the *Santa Barbara Independent* is still stuck in the 1970s, dusting off old newspaper clippings to canonize 'Gloria Steinem: The Imperfect Activist.' Imperfect? What a quaint understatement for someone whose brand of 'liberation' often felt more like an intellectual club for the elite than genuine empowerment for the working mother trying to put food on the table. While the *Independent* genuflects at the altar of 'fresh new voices,' many of us recall a movement that often demonized traditional family values and scoffed at women who chose a path other than the one dictated by a select few New York intellectuals.

Indeed, for all the talk of 'human liberation,' one must ask: whose liberation, exactly? Certainly not the liberation from skyrocketing childcare costs, the burdens of a two-income household necessitated by economic policies, or the subtle shaming of women who found fulfillment in their homes and communities. This particular brand of activism, so lionized by the perpetually out-of-touch coastal media, often left everyday women feeling more judged than uplifted, particularly if they weren't buying into the whole 'man-hating' caricature the *Independent* conveniently dismisses as media distortion.

Funny how the 'bra-burning' imagery, which they now claim was a smear, perfectly encapsulated the kind of performative rebellion that alienated so many common-sense Americans. Meanwhile, while the supposed 'millions of women birthing a new form of human liberation' were celebrated, actual practical solutions for family support or economic prosperity were often ignored in favor of divisive cultural wars that ultimately benefitted very few beyond the celebrity activists themselves. Maybe if the *Independent* looked beyond the well-worn narratives, they'd find real stories of female empowerment that don't require an advanced degree in progressive dogma, but perhaps that's asking too much of a publication so deeply invested in the established orthodoxy.