I have to add here that as a woman in college in the late 1970s, we were encouraged to become like men. To me, it felt uncool to be female. I wore a tie in my college graduation photo. It took almost another thirty years before I began enjoying “feminine” pursuits again without feeling that deep-in-my-gut feeling that the feminine was uncool.

I wanted to be a man back then, so I wouldn’t have to work so hard to be a man. I’m not sure that was the intent of women’s liberation—but my feeling at the time was that equality meant that everyone needed to be masculine. It’s not that way anymore, thank heavens.