Hidden Homeless Need Women’s Support

This is in regard to “Living in the Shadows” (Dec. 2) about formerly well-to-do and educated women who are now sleeping in their cars due to traumatic events in their lives, many related to their marriages.

I was one of these women. At 24 years of age, from 1984 to mid-1986, I slept in my car. My RX-7 was not a comfortable car and the repo man was looking for it, to boot.

I am attractive. No one would have ever guessed my predicament. I was trying to attend college full-time, lost my job and got behind on bills. But I was determined to finish school. My mother, who lived up in a huge house in Palos Verdes Estates, would not offer me temporary shelter because she was competitive with me. My former friends were with their men, unable to be my friends. I wonder how many of their men have since moved on to other women?

It’s such a shame women are so preoccupied with pleasing men that they can’t help one another, both mothers and friends alike. I think women need to develop their friendships and not depend wholly on men for emotional support for obvious reasons.

NAME WITHHELD

Manhattan Beach