What was the general mood and atmosphere surrounding the feminist movement in the 60s70s?
We were bold, brash, and publicly outrageous. We were up against a culture of male supremacy that is virtually inconceivable to young women today. There were no women bus drivers, welders, firefighters, news anchors, CEO’s or Supreme Court Justices. Women professors, doctors, scientists or lawyers were rare. Gays and lesbians were forced to live “in the closet” for fear of vicious persecution. Women were denied credit by banks and states could bar women from sitting on juries. Women knew next to nothing about their bodies and were afraid to honestly discuss their sexuality. Terms like “domestic violence” or “sexual harassment” did not exist and rape victims had probably “asked for it”. Abortion was illegal and women seeking them risked death and injury at the hands of incompetent quacks. Although we had some guidance from an older generation of feminists, for the most part we were young and inexperienced and largely on our own. We made up the women’s liberation movement as we went alon
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