The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn. We are filled with the popular wisdom of several centuries just past, and we are terrified to give it up. Patriotism means obedience, age means wisdom, woman means submission, black means inferior: these are preconceptions embedded so deeply in our thinking that we honestly may not know that they are there.

Gloria Steinem (b. 1934) American feminist, journalist, activist

“The First Problem for All of Us, Men and Women, Is to Unlearn,” New York Times (26 Aug 1971)