In the summer of 1975, eight of my women friends and I began dreaming and planning. In March 1976, we opened the Stockton Women's Center in space rented from a local church with $275 we raised at a garage sale. We had two programmes initially: a rape crisis line and a 'non-sexist' day-care centre in one of the two rented rooms. Of the eight initial women, all were Caucasian, although one had Native American ancestors. We were mostly college-educated (I was a doctoral student), all married at the time; later three of us divorced - including me. We were all straight; later one of us came out as lesbian. Stockton was a middle-sized Californian city with a diverse population and a struggling economy. We were variously searching for community, stimulation, and service. When we started meeting, we split our time between personal sharing ('consciousness raising'), discussing books and how to organize something larger than our small group meetings in our living rooms. / I start this chapter with personal reminiscence because my story details a set of experiences that capture the typicality of the early years of what has come to be called 'second-wave feminism'. In considering Churchill's work in the context of feminist theory and activism, it is important to stay close to personal experience, situated contexts and evolving ideas. My goal is to create for younger readers a more nuanced approach to Churchill as a feminist thinker and writer than can arise from the media's broad-stroke, often distorted, portrayal of second-wave feminism. In order to do that, some of the excitement and pleasure of that time needs to be balanced with the critique of the mistakes we made, the very real successes balanced with the failures. After all, it comprises a complex history.