ABSTRACT
I was born in 1942 and grew up in Southern California. I had many advantages as an only child of a loving family. My father adored me, my mother adored me and I was given the message very early in life that I could do anything I wanted to do. The downside of this was that it was difficult for me to see the sexism in our society until much later in my life. But the upside dramatically outweighed the disadvantages. My mother worked throughout my childhood and I knew her to be a strong woman. My father was loving and affectionate which gave me a positive feeling toward men as well. In 1964, I began working as a public health nurse in the County of Los Angeles and worked in a black ghetto. My political views were never the same after that. I became a radical leftist and rapidly evolved into a feminist.
