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I graduated from college in 1974 and got married two weeks later. I'm amazed at how restricted things were then.

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Sue, you were a nice girl in the sense to get married as a virgin at such a young age

which thing must be appreciated and a good precent for other girls to follow your

way. Kudos!!

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Sep 21Liked by Sue Fagalde Lick

It’s powerful stuff.

I love the quote “a woman alone is a beautiful thing”.

I’m grateful for my ancestral women, and all they went through, marched for and fought for. We too are fighting for future generations. And hopefully women’s rights will be restored in all states.

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Sep 21Liked by Sue Fagalde Lick

Lyz Lenz's THIS AMERICAN EX-WIFE is a recent book that, while partly a personal memoir of her own divorce, talks about the downside of marriage for women more generally--culturally, legally, emotionally.

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Validating!

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I always am shocked when I’m reminded of 1974. That’s the year I graduated high school. My first credit card was from Sears, and my parents had to cosign. My mother was an early feminist but still it never occurred to me that prior to 1974. I couldn’t have had my own credit card even if I was age. I couldn’t have taken out a loan to buy my own house if I had the money for a down payment. I came of age with the Pill and post Roe v Wade. I’m incredibly lucky and aghast at the reversal I’m watching.

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I don’t want to risk posting a spoiler - but have you read (or watched) The Handmaid’s Tale? The part you posted about how a woman couldn’t own property or have funds of her own and was destined to be poor if she remained single? It sent a chill down my spine. Mainly because of Handmaids Tale.

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author

Pretty scary, isn't it?

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It's terrifying. I don't think people realize how close we are to returning to those days. We MUST fight back and ensure it doesn't happen.

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I read this book not long after it came out. I'm married, but I like Traister's writing and find the subject fascinating. and (looking back at the review I wrote then), I thought many of the book's messages were applicable to all women, not just singles.

When I started working at the head office of a large Canadian bank, I got lectured by one of the older women for wearing pants one day. (Not done, apparently, although happily, things started changing not too many years after that.) This was 1986, not 1956! Women had only been admitted to the pension plan 10 years earlier -- and they still weren't allowed to join the pension plan at the rival bank my sister worked for!

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