Gloria Steinem has finally come to terms with the radical concept that a man and a woman might possibly join together without the union taking place in some antiquated domination ceremony. Ms. Steinem has married, taking part in an institution she previously described as “designed for a person and a half.” It's about time this overexposed ideologue changed her tune.

For too long, high-profile feminists have dictated how women should live and replaced the difficult demands of marriage with the unreasonable dogmas of feminism. Steinem and company have failed to realize that most women think for themselves and recognize these demands as ridiculous.

Burning bras, though a statement guaranteed to turn men’s heads, died out pretty quickly. Victoria’s Secret is now a $2 billion business. And women are increasingly choosing to have careers, and doing well. According to Free Markets, Free Choices, a Pacific Research Institute study, women earn almost exactly the same as men when education, field-of-study, and experience are taken into account.

When women are left to their own devices, they make choices and do what’s best for themselves every day. In 1998 approximately 59 million of them seemed to think that marriage was not a form of confinement or domination.

Steinem-style feminism, on the other hand, dictates that women must follow the she-woman, man-hater party line. This indicates a contempt for women’s abilities and intellect that runs deeper than any historical injustice. The magazine Steinem founded, Ms., has embodied this contempt.

Despite her recent bout of clarity, Ms. Steinem has been caught blaming the past year’s tragic school shootings on the white man’s “addiction to dominance.” Rather than admit the obvious, that individuals have individual problems, everything still comes down to men versus women. This reactionary and strident ideology finds fewer and fewer followers every year.

There is a sign that Ms. Steinem is beginning to understand this, possibly as an after-effect of her marriage. When questioned about her past indictments of marriage and their implications, she replied that “I hope this proves what feminists have always said—that feminism is about the ability to choose what's right at each time of our lives.”

What’s right for women is not always what Gloria Steinem says. But her new perspective is welcome. Not only does this show that a person can change, but also that reason and rationality are not solely a man’s domain. One hopes the irony will not go unnoticed. And, it should be noted, in photos of the blushing bride, she was not missing half her anatomy.

Whether or not this signals a brave new thoughtfulness from Ms. Steinem, it is clear that a woman’s life should not be dictated by others, including the government. Ms. Steinem, after all, once claimed she would never marry until the Equal Rights Amendment was passed. It remains a dead bill.

Ms. Steinem apparently realized that she needs neither the government’s approval nor its guidance in making decisions for her own life. That is a brand of feminism that women can accept.

–  Joelle Cowan

Public Policy Fellow