I think back to my high school years and even though we were in the thick of the early 1970s, and women still had to fight for basic rights, most girls were feistier than they are now. More sure of themselves in some more intrinsic way.

One of the differences is back then the importance of being "inner directed" rather than solely "outer directed" was widely accepted and seen as healthy for both sexes. Personality & strength of will were seen as coming from within, and even if we had low-self esteem, insecurities and body-image issues (as we all did), we all knew it was important to try to develop a core sense of self and self-worth that was stable and not subject to being constantly buffeted, shaken and possibly destroyed by the comments, glances, views, criticisms of other people (real, perceived or wholly imagined) - as well as by all the vagaries of life.

Moreover, back then there was a lot of emphasis on developing life skills and becoming competent in varied areas. And most of us had after-school jobs of all sorts from a pretty early age, so we learned the satisfaction of completing tasks, doing a job well done (even when they were menial tasks and the jobs were crappy), and of earning our own money and paying taxes and generally "making a contribution to the world." Plus, back then kids of both sexes tended to have so much more independence from an early age... which led us to having much more of a sense of mastery over our environment and seeing ourselves as full-fledged participants in the real-life world and members of society. Yes, girls & women were excluded, discriminated against, harassed, abused and at risk of physical assault simply for being female, but many of us still had more of a sense of belonging in the world and to our communities and an idea that we all had something to contribute.

Today, growing up for so many young people no longer seems to be about developing their unique personalities, learning a host of different and varied skills, becoming competent in many areas, earning money, being independent, standing on your own two feet, spreading your wings, making a real contribution, being of service, seizing the day, seeing the world and so on. For so many in the financially well-off West today, adolescence and early adulthood seems to be largely about acquiring and asserting a ready-made, stock "identity" or set of "identities" selected off a superstore shelf or picked from online catalogue, then donning all the surface trappings supposedly that go along with & prove that identity/ies - then expecting and demanding that everyone else in the world "recognize," "respect" and "validate" your identity/ies by constantly making approving noises and fawning over your fashion choices, hairstyle, body modifications, and all the labels you've chosen applied to yourself - along with giving you props for how well you walk in lockstep to the prevailing ideology and parrot all the "right" phrases and employ the accepted "arguments" ("you're denying trans people's existence!" "that's transphobic!" "you're a hater!" "intersex"...) Sadly, that's not a way to obtain a genuine sense of self-worth or happiness. And it sure doesn't amount to living an authentic life and being true to your deepest self.