I’m an old broad. I was in high school in the 60s in Minneapolis. I remember:
*My employed, single aunt applying for a credit card, which she could not get without a male signature. Her unemployed brother signed for her, and she got it.
*The four married couples in my graduating class; all of them “had to” get married and in one case waited for the boy to turn 16 to be able to get married.
*Abortions weren’t legal - there was the abused girl who knew her father would lose it if he found out she was pregnant, so she douched with bleach; and the girl who tried her own coat hanger approach to an unwanted pregnancy.
*Condoms were kept behind a counter, and had to be requested from a pharmacist. You had to be age 18 to purchase.
*Only married, or about to be married women could get a birth control prescription. My doctor required me to produce a marriage license to prove I was going to be married.
*In the early 70s, when my husband and I tried to buy a house, my income could not be considered - only the man’s.
Also, in the good old days girls had to wear dresses or skirts to school - no slacks or jeans; teachers were allowed to slap, pull hair, and use paddles; teachers could decline a hall pass for a girl who unexpectedly got her period at school; employers could fire women who became pregnant.
When my now-husband and I got together, I told him I factored in a political candidate’s stance on reproductive rights in my decision making. He told me I shouldn’t be a single issue voter, that Roe v. Wade was the settled law of the land.
Men.
