Dear

Abby

Dear Abby:

I am a 17-year-old girl who plans to pursue law as a career.

I am a straight-A student, and I'm neither pretty nor popular. I am somewhat antisocial, and I'm not domestically inclined, so marriage and a family for me are out of the question.

I really don't care about having

a husband and a herd of kids, and there is no way I will spend my life being a housewife. I'd crack up.

My problém is my father. Every time I discuss my future plans with him, he says I am acting like a "lesbian."

I am not a lesbian, and it hurts me to hear him say it. How can I get my father to realize that I am not a lesbian just because I don't want a husband and 20 kids?

Dear Fed Up:

Fed Up

Unless your father is a very ignorant man, he surely realizes that every woman who rejects the role of wife and mother to pursue a career is not necessarily a lèsbian.

But why make such positive statements now? It's possible for a woman to have both a career and a husband and children.