A sign.

There was a sense of optimism and a sense that women were busting through at last and the fact that it arose when it did is a tribute not only to the suffragettes and various others the fact that their struggles were bearing fruit in legislation just around the run up to punk.

And this was hugely influential in the way it played out.

They did not simply refuse pretty clichés, they refused the terms by which prettiness, skill, seriousness and authority were being measured.

I was so lucky to have a friend like Caroline Kuhn, a prominent writer and visual artist.

Without her, I don't know if I would have had anyone to really talk to who understood, you know, because one was so alone.

You know, you want to do what you think is right and you have to stick to it and not expect necessarily everybody to understand.

be in accord with women starting to write about popular music or anything.