Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Transmissions: A difference of decades

Published 12/27/2012
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith

http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=68389 (http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=68389)

I grew up in the 1970s, and my youth was very different from the world of today. It was an era of feminism and the Equal Rights Amendment, of the fight for gay rights in a time of Anita Bryant and the Briggs initiative, of Renee Richards, and of Flip Wilson performing as Geraldine on his eponymous television show.

One of my earliest memories – my mom would place this when I was 3 – was wanting Mary Janes instead of sneakers, and her dissuading me from this choice. Actually, she told me I could have them, but only once I learned to tie my sneakers' laces. I spent a lot of time trying to learn after that, but still never managed to earn that pair of shoes. I suspect she had hoped I'd forget.

It being the holiday season, I am also reminded of asking for things like Barbie dolls or an Easy Bake Oven, doing my best to rationalize my choices – the Barbie, for example, was to be the girlfriend of all the Big Jim dolls that Santa Claus left under the tree for me. My subterfuge never worked.

We've come a long way from the 1970s. There's still much to be done but now these
things are spoken openly in places where it was once taboo.


:)