Ever since the long ago beginning of patriarchy, every authoritarian regime has required an effort to control the one thing that men do not possess: wombs. Without this, men cannot establish paternity, create or continue so-called racial differences, grow or decline the population, or establish nation states on what is otherwise a unified Spaceship Earth.

For all of these reasons, feminism—the right of females to make decisions about our own bodies and lives—is the first step toward democracy.

If this sounds futuristic to you, you will understand why the re-publishing right now of The Nazi Connection, an essay I first wrote for Ms. Magazine in 1980, is an event whose time has come—or hopefully, is on the way, depending on the part of this country or the world where you live.

The cover of Ms. Magazine, October 1980.Courtesy of the Office of Gloria Steinem/Soapbox, Inc.

Because it is so frequent and all-consuming, at least in the so-called “developed” world, patriarchy—that is, the rule of fathers—has come to seem normal or even inevitable. We forget or may not even learn that there once were, and perhaps still are, matrilineal cultures in which the line of descent was determined by birth, not by insemination. This does not mean matriarchy, a system in which females rule males, but that the inheritance of family, tradition, or name is determined by the line of birth-giving and descent.

Indeed, if this does sounds futuristic, even unimaginable, it will be proof that the words below, though written decades ago, have become disturbingly relevant. Hear them and see what you think.

- Gloria Steinem, October 2022 ♦