Jonna Carter: Gloria in Excelcis

September has once again passed, leaving some of us behind and taking with it others. This year one of those whisked away was a woman with whom I've all my life had more than a passing fascination. I was in awe of her, really, and my awe didn't diminish with age. This intrepid heroine, Gloria Steinem, is owed an immeasurable debt of gratitude. Courted by controversy, Gloria Steinem spent her life challenging long-accepted norms and values. As she racked up many victories and near misses, she never tired of challenging and chipping away at the status quo. She was everything I was not, but wanted to be: bold, brazen, confident and glamorous.

Gloria Steinem was a pioneer — a feminist trailblazer who fought battles of epic proportion so that I and others of my generation wouldn't need to. Steinem and her second wave comrades in the women's liberation movement succeeded in changing the world for future generations in perpetuity, or so we believed until this bizarre new wave of backlash rode in on Donald Trump's coattails. Now incels, extremist evangelicals and control freaks so threatened by women and women's equality are trying fervently to tear down what Steinem helped build.