Betty Friedan
February 4, 1921 - February 4, 2006

In 11th grade Mrs. Underwood assigned everyone a chapter to read from Betty Friedan's revolutionary book "The Feminine Mystique." I was assigned the chapter on Penis Envy. I kid you not. We then had to present our chapter to the class at large and much puzzled discussion ensued. I believe I shocked the class by opening with "I never wanted a penis or envied those who had them." Little did I know back then that I could purchase a lovely facsimile at Toys in Babeland or that my friends would someday inject testosterone and grow their own facsimiles. I didn't know such things existed then, but reading Betty Friedan unhooked my notions of femininity from their societal moorings, opening my mind to new possibilities of perceiving myself in the world. Thank you, Betty. I hope you rock the next world, now, as you did in 1963. And Happy Birthday.

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