Inquiry: Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo: DAUGHTERS OF AQUARIUS: WOMEN OF THE SIXTIES COUNTERCULTURE.

Women of the 1960s counterculture were often portrayed in the mainstream press as drug-addled hapless victims of Manson-type male gurus. Even in the hippie rock posters and comics of the time, women were either sexy Aquarian goddesses or earth mother icons. The truth is that women of the counterculture led complex lives that often challenged cultural stereotypes as to what was proper for women to do or how a woman should dress. Some hippie women were world travelers who thought nothing of grabbing their backpacks and setting off for India, Pakistan or Afghanistan. Their lifestyles in the 1960s paved the way for the New Age and “back to earth” movements of today. Tonight’s guest on Inquiry is GRETCHEN LEMKE-SANTANGELO, Professor of History at St. Mary’s College of California.  She has written the first cultural history of these hippie women that describes how they lived, and their importance to modern feminism and environmental movements. Her book is titled: DAUGHTERS OF AQUARIUS: WOMEN OF THE SIXTIES COUNTERCULTURE.