The Good and the Bad of Growing Up in the 1970s in Southern California with Very Liberal Parents

by Jessica Anya Blau

GOOD: You are not freaked out by the human body in all its shapes and forms--you have seen so many naked people that you understand that nudity is a normal human condition. This comes in handy when you have to help a sick hospitalized friend navigate some intimate part of her body with tubes and wires.
BAD: You know what your father's penis looks like because he never wore a swimsuit in the pool and he always shaved naked with the door open.

GOOD: When you are fourteen you aren't embarrassed with confusion when someone hands you a bong because your mother has already shown you how to use a bong.
BAD: You're smoking pot at fourteen.
GOOD: Pot has no rebellious thrill and you quickly lose interest in it and never really smoke it again in your life.

GOOD: You will not get pregnant in high school because your mother will make sure that you are using birth control.
BAD: You have to discuss birth control with your mother who has no problem imagining you having sex.

GOOD: Your sense of the world goes beyond the physical as you are introduced to things like aura readings, s