I can sometimes deal with men as equals and therefore can afford to like them.

Steinem’s line turns a familiar stereotype—women “disliking men”—inside out. She suggests that resentment is not a personal failing but a predictable response to unequal power. When she can meet men “as equals,” she is freed from the defensive calculations that hierarchy imposes (appeasement, fear, competition for approval). Liking becomes possible because it is no longer entangled with submission or with the need to manage male authority. The quote also implies that genuine affection across gender lines depends on structural equality, not on individual goodwill alone: friendship and solidarity flourish when neither party is required to play a role in someone else’s dominance.