HISTORY

Teenage 7V

by Diane Grant (5-J-4) FPE

I was born on the west coast, in 1947. That's right, I am only 19. I have two older sisters and two sisters the exact same age. We are triplets.

In our family album I have seen photos of me at the ages of one to five in which I was wearing a dress. My parents were not rich and I assume that we were all dressed the same way for reasons of economy.

When I was between seven and ten it became reg- ular practice to punish me by forcing me to wear a dress. I wore it over my own underthings.

I remember being forced to wear a dress for an entire week. During that week some of my friends came over to see if I wanted to play baseball. At that time I just couldn't find enough places to hide, but luckily I was successful enough to hide from them.

At the end of that week I felt funny about give- ing up the dress. In a way, I wanted to keep it, and yet I was afraid of the dress. For some unknown reason that was the last time I was punished in that way.

About this time I started to be envious of my sisters, mainly because I felt my parents were giving more attention to my sisters then to me. At first it was just slight but it seemed to grow. My parents were always helping my sisters. If they needed money, trasportation or anything, my parents were always there to help. It was seldom or never that my

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