Reply #13: Imagine this:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1969, newly married, and I went to the bank to open my own checking account using my maiden name.

I was told I couldn't do that. I had to use his surname.

When I started law school three years later, I had a hyphenated last name, mine and my husband's. I was told it couldn't work in the school's computers. I told them to try. They figured out a way.

That year, in my freshman law school class, there were 50 women out of 150 students. This was because of Affirmative Action. The year before we entered, the freshman class had had 3 women.

After our midterms, there were 4 women left. Forty-six dropped out. I think being called "Lawyerette" when you were standing to recite in class probably got to a lot of them. It got to me, but I refused to let it take away from me what I wanted.

All 4 of us graduated.

This is but a tip of what the iceberg was like, my personal - and quite superficial - recollections. This is why, almost 40 years later, I have not much patience with women who complain about things that piss them off, things that are part of the human condition, not necessarily limited to women and which are within their powers to change. There are bigger battles out there still, and I wonder how it will go, given that the term "feminist" seems to have taken on such a negative connotation.

The things that are taken for granted by the younger generations are things my generation struggled for - reproductive rights, for instance - and, without eternal vigilance and lots of cash, they're going to be taken away. I doubt that "feminist" will be a dirty word then.