Youv'e come along way baby!

[timber84]

Check out this from Good Housekeeping in 1955.

[The Deacon]

1. "A Good Wife Always Knows Her Place"?

Yeah, out in the workplace so she & hubby can afford BOTH a mortgage AND food in the pantry. And hopefully one of them will still get health insurance.

[KyndCulture]

2. This line is priceless..

"Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him"


:rofl:


no motherfucker, you CAN'T WATCH!

[smirkymonkey]

52. A LITTLE Gay?? That article is enough to turn even the most

man crazy woman into a flaming Lesbian. What a fucking waste of life, to be a slave to someone else like that.

[timber84]

3. How about this line:

"remember his topics of conversation are more important than yours"

I think I'm going to puke!

[lyonn]

4. Humm, funny article, must have been Man Made

Some women of that era certainly would not have agree with that crap. My mother for one, she had a theory, got along without you before I met you gonna get along without you now. I know, a cowboy song but a good one and there were many women of that era that had seen the light.

Hard to believe some of the "media" then was as radical as now. Fun reading tho. Remember, about 5 years later all hell broke lose and women/girls were protesting. Course birth control pills could have been a big factor. Women now can have an abortion, another liberating factor, for how long is the question with this crowd that is controling Everything. That article could be promoted today by the Right Wing party. It feels awful going backwards in this country.

[Mist]

5. Betty Friedan used to refer to the 50s as a time when "women were

expected to put on make-up to run the vacuum cleaner." Did you find this at James Lileks site, by any chance? He collects oddities of yesteryear, recipes, housekeeping hints, etc.

[timber84]

7. it was an email from a friend.

[OneBlueSky]

50. Betty Friedan once gave me the evil eye . . .

when I held a door open for her at the airport . . .

I was working for a Congressman at the time, and picking him up at the airport was a short straw I drew every so often . . . on this particular day, everyone had exited the plane and I was still waiting . . . a few minutes later, he came down the ramp carrying a basket of fruit and accompanied by a woman who looked vaguely familiar . . .

"Mike, I'd like you to meet my friend Betty Friedan," says he . . . we shook hands and headed for the exit, where I opened the door and held it for her, receivving a really nasty look as she passed through . . . wasn't sure if she was upset with my "deferential" treatment, or that the Congressman had helped her pick up the fruit when she dropped the basket on the plane . . .

[acmavm]

6. I saw this a few years ago. I don't think I ever knew a woman

who ever acted like this.

The don't question 'even if he stays out all night'. Hee hee.
'Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes'? Right.
And 'you have no right to question him.' What a pantload.

[kentuck]

8. The babyboomers of the '60's accomplished something, I guess?

:)

[annabanana]

9. Pretty standard for the time, and largely uncontested.

(At least publicly, or in front of men)

I believe among dominionists, this is still the expectation.

Now all you young women out there. . . now you know what Betty Freidan and Gloria Steinham have accomplished.

And don't think it can't regress.

[timber84]

10. I'm suprised it just doesn't come out and say ohh by the

way you have to 'give it up' every night and like it. I'm glad I was born when I was, I guess..

[Fierce]

11. God, just *reading* that makes me want to take a Valium.

Thank you to my mothers and sisters who fought this crap, actively or subversively. Never go back!

[Marnieworld]

12. Really? This was actually published? Truly?

It seems unreal, surreal, to me. He can stay out all night and you have no right to question him about anything? What's the most ominous thing about this to me is that it leaves out the what if you don't obey these rules? What does the man have a "right" to do to enforce them? This is the mentality of societies that treat women as objects for benefits and nothing more. Pets with skills to do the things that are necessary but annoying.

Wow! Just wow.

[undergroundpanther]

14. It was once legal

and encouraged for a husband to beat his wife. He saw her as his proerty. Marriage has an UGLY history. That ring, is not the innocent symbol of love it is a symbol of bondage,of 'dowery'of ownership.

[Marnieworld]

24. legal? here?

My god. We have come a long way baby! Thank you fighting fore-sisters!

[MissB]

26. I don't think this was truly published

I'm too lazy to go check Snopes, but there was something about the picture's source (advertising archives or whatever it says) that indicates that no, this particular combination wasn't published.

That said, this was the mindset back then.

[lukasahero]

38. From the snopes link below

"However, before we head off to go dancing in the streets over this, safe and secure in our knowledge that this list of housewifely tips was just a bit of cooked-up nonsense, we'd better take another look at the wife's role in the 1950s. And before we entirely write off Fascinating Womanhood as the source of the piece now in circulation, let's take a peek between its covers, because it certainly contains plenty to make everyone from the diehard feminist to the "start the revolution without me" matron shudder, including these entries from a list of "DO's and DON'TS":

Do's
Accept him at face value.
Admire the manly things about him.
Recognize his superior strength and ability.
Be a Domestic Goddess.
Work for inner happiness and seek to understand its rules.
Revere your husband and honor his right to rule you and your children.

Dont's
Don't try to change him.
Don't show indifference, contempt, or ridicule towards his masculine abilities, achievements or ideas.
Don't try to excel him in anything which requires masculine ability.
Don't let the outside world crowd you for time to do your homemaking tasks well.
Don't have a lot of preconceived ideas of what you want out of life.
Don't stand in the way of his decisions, or his law.

We don't want to believe any woman, even half a century ago, was willing to submit herself to a life of servitude in order to be considered successful at her "most important role in life," that of the wife. And we certainly don't want to believe our schools were used to inculcate young women with these skewed notions of the proper role for women. Yet we'd be wrong on both counts: Women did, and young gals were.

...

We needn't paint a mental picture of those times as being one of master and slave, "his every whim a command, his every utterance golden," because they weren't. But it is true in those days a woman's province was understood to be the home. To her fell the housework and the childrearing, tasks considered her indisputable purpose in life, her highest calling — not something voluntarily undertaken."

[undergroundpanther]

13. Submitted wives

Considering that EVIL Era, It's obvious to me,Men don't like having to take care of the endless drudgery,the unfufilling things in life,
like tending to pooping,screaming puking kids,all day,washing dishes,washing dishes,dusting and dusting, The endless laundry, cooking cooking cooking...And cleaning,cleaning,cleaning..

Men balk at the day in day out drudgery jobs the "invisible jobs" that get dumped on women . The kinds of chores as soon as they are done they need to be done again and again there is no end to it.

Men like to go out and"achieve" and BE SOMEBODY BIG. They mow the lawn to show off the machine it's"power"and how well the grass looks to impress the neighbors,Men build things to enhance the value of the home,washing dishes isn't considered enhancing the value of the home.But a deck is.

Funny how Men's work is valued and seen by others and women's work is invisible and not valued until the woman stops doing it then the men whine as if they are helpless to run a washing machine by themselves. Suddenly a wife becomes a mommy to an adult boy in an instant.

Men want to make slaves of women so the males can go out and BE SOMEBODY, make a mark on the world for themselves.. I mean how can marks on the world achievement wise be made and a legacy built for the patriarchal name if all you do is wash dishes and iron?

Where is the glory in that drudgery ? That is why women back then were trained from babyhood to want to submit and accept that horrid housewife role.Men need to learn to do the drudgery for themselves,and let the women make marks upon this world and have a legacy of their own...too.And trapping women through forced pregnancy is a way to force women back into the home prison and invisible slave hood supporting her male like a Mommy he can fuck..

[Alcibiades]

16. Housework is undervalued even when a man does it

One caveat--what you call "man's work" and "women's work" isn't inherently gendered. I do all the laundry, cook 90% of the meals (my wife likes to cook), do most of the cleaning and childcare in my family while my wife earns all of the income. I know, you're just using the language as its developed, and perhaps pointing out the silliness of it by using such terms, but I'd just like to put it out there that not all of us are football-watching knuckleheads nowadays. I'm pushing 40, and was raised by a women's libber, and I suspect there's a lot of guys like me out there.

Being a stay-at-home dad is probably the most subversive thing I've ever done. I get subtle questions from folks all the time asking when it is that I'll put my child in daycare and get a real job again. I usually reply that, if they think I am lazy, they can come over and try taking care of my rambunctious (but nonetheless well-mannered) 19-month old boy for a while.

If your wife makes enough money, I heartily recommend it to you guys out there! It helps one understand how our mothers (or grandmothers) lived.

[undergroundpanther]

19. Good for you dude!

I hope you enjoy what you do and she too.
Good luck!

[Jed Dilligan]

36. Lucky you

Both of us have to work but we still fight over who gets to stay home when one of us starts making enough for both of us. It's a race to the bottom, income wise...

[undergroundpanther]

15. Marriage has evil roots

Early History of Marriage and Women
Marriage and Women: A Series

By Lori Anderson

Women and Marriage: Marriage had to be the way it evolved for capitalism to prosper.Back to 1700s Three centuries ago, England had no middle class. It was divided into:

* The nobility
* People who worked for the nobility.

Men and women were born into a social class. That class determined their marriage options and their entire lives.
There was no upward mobility for men or women through making money; no rags to castles through hard work. Fortune and class were the only games in town in England around 1700.
Lower down the social hierarchy, “good” was about work and survival. It had nothing to do with gender. America was similar in that breeding and property were the qualities that made a good wife or husband.In addition, these precapitalistic societies did not allow individuals, male or female, to operate separately from the clan, tribe, or community.

The nuclear family was merely part of a larger group. It had no real importance in the scheme of things. Individuality was feared and considered quite antisocial.This meant that all relations were ambiguous. Ambiguous relationships require constant compromises to be successful.

Capitalism

Capitalism could not evolve under these conditions.
In fact, capitalism needed three features to grow:
1. Personal equality.
2. Individuals who were self-reliant rather than reliant on community, clan, or state.
3. Concrete contractual rights.

These traits were not compatible with a Society of compromising men and women.Therefore, Society reorganized gender by assigning all dependence to women and the role of protecting women and children to men.

http://www.cyberparent.com/women/marriage4.htm


The Victorian Period

Nineteenth-century religious beliefs encouraged women’s subordination in the household and, therefore, contributed to domestic assault. These principles often led husbands to justify their “right” to use violence to control their wives. In addition, these ideals created social tolerance of domestic assault (Hammerton 43). The Victorian period was a time of great religious following. People during the nineteenth-century believed that the Bible supported women’s submission and often used biblical quotes to defend such claims (Glenn 65). This emphasis of religious based subordination suggested that, for a woman to be virtuous and serve God, she must follow the lead of her husband.
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/femhist/spousal_abuse.shtml

[Greyhound]

17. Excellent post, thank you.

The middle-class, as we've mis-named it, was allowed to come about for the sole purpose of providing a buffer between the rulers and the rest of us, and they adopted a system of pseudo-royalty (A man's home is his castle, blah, blah, blah) and women and children were his "subjects".

And all this inequity comes directly from our religious institutions.
Again, Thank You. :kick:

[undergroundpanther]

20. Actually

It's not from religion religion is a mere tool the ruling class exploits the masses with.

It all really comes from the ruling class,their greed,and insatiable desire to hold onto power and wealth and cultural dominance,and keep it for themselves . They invented marriage,religion and the cultural roles.

[Greyhound]

23. Yes, the ruling class appropriated faith long ago and established religion

which, in turn, has been used to control the sheep through their faith. I make the distinction between faith and religion as they have very little, if anything, to do with one another. :dilemma:

[dogday]

18. You don't need no stinking set of rules

to know how to please your mate... You do for them because you want to do for them, not because you should or you have to ...

I look after my husband's needs, he sees to mine, and it has worked well for 15 years...

[Catherine Vincent]

28. Very good, sister!

:hi:

[dogday]

30. Hey girl, how you been?

:hi:

[Arugula Latte]

21. Look at the body language depicted ...

He's looming menacingly over her ... She's cowering in submission.

[Fierce]

22. Whoops, debunked:

I started wondering, because it doesn't say "Good Housekeeping," it says "Housekeeping Monthly," and it uses non-American spelling.

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/goodwife.asp

[lukasahero]

29. Better keep reading though

"However, before we head off to go dancing in the streets over this, safe and secure in our knowledge that this list of housewifely tips was just a bit of cooked-up nonsense, we'd better take another look at the wife's role in the 1950s. And before we entirely write off Fascinating Womanhood as the source of the piece now in circulation, let's take a peek between its covers, because it certainly contains plenty to make everyone from the diehard feminist to the "start the revolution without me" matron shudder, including these entries from a list of "DO's and DON'TS":

Do's
Accept him at face value.
Admire the manly things about him.
Recognize his superior strength and ability.
Be a Domestic Goddess.
Work for inner happiness and seek to understand its rules.
Revere your husband and honor his right to rule you and your children.

Dont's
Don't try to change him.
Don't show indifference, contempt, or ridicule towards his masculine abilities, achievements or ideas.
Don't try to excel him in anything which requires masculine ability.
Don't let the outside world crowd you for time to do your homemaking tasks well.
Don't have a lot of preconceived ideas of what you want out of life.
Don't stand in the way of his decisions, or his law.

We don't want to believe any woman, even half a century ago, was willing to submit herself to a life of servitude in order to be considered successful at her "most important role in life," that of the wife. And we certainly don't want to believe our schools were used to inculcate young women with these skewed notions of the proper role for women. Yet we'd be wrong on both counts: Women did, and young gals were.

...

We needn't paint a mental picture of those times as being one of master and slave, "his every whim a command, his every utterance golden," because they weren't. But it is true in those days a woman's province was understood to be the home. To her fell the housework and the childrearing, tasks considered her indisputable purpose in life, her highest calling — not something voluntarily undertaken."

[Fierce]

42. I'm not saying this wasn't the attitude many had.

I am saying this wasn't published in Good Housekeeping.

[lukasahero]

44. I didn't say you did, did I?

I was just pointing out that even snopes suggests that, while the article wasn't printed in Good Housekeeping, the discussion is still relevant.

[Fierce]

45. Nope, you didn't.

nt

[Bluebear]

41. well, "undetermined".

[RB TexLa]

25. wow, over 20 posts and no "you can't make fun of stay at home moms" rants?

amazing

[MissB]

27. I truly don't see the connection here.

There was a huge difference in mindset between the husbands/wives of the 50's era versus today. I'm sure there are a whole lot of stay at home parents like myself who chose to stay home, instead of being forced to stay home. I had a choice. I have a 4 year engineering degree, and yet I stay home.

Totally different than what the mindset was back then.

[Marnieworld]

34. even though you are at home

it's not like (I'm assuming) that you are of the mindset of the couple in this depiction. This isn't a commentary on current stay at home situations so I'm guessing that's why no one has complained yet. You can stay at home but not feel so oppressed as to having no right to complain or even speak about your day.

[newspeak]

35. remembering lecture in my women's history class

after WWII, there was a PR campaign to get women back into the home--since women left the home to fill some areas of labor that were designated as men's jobs. Women became welders, assemblyline workers-building aircraft, ships, weapons. Women were pilots, flying new planes (that hadn't yet been tested) to their destinations. There was an outcry against women pilots, and some of the planes had been sabotaged. It seems some men didn't believe a woman's place was in a cockpit. Because of the war, women gained a certain independence, since most had to work outside of the home and maintain the family while the men were at war. When the soldiers came home, media with the government, did a massive PR campaign to encourage women to go back to the home and give the outside jobs to their men. Most women followed along, but some liked that independence--so, even before the sixties and seventies, women's movement, I believe there was a movement already forming because of the war.

[wicket]

31. Hoo boy

:popcorn:

[timber84]

32. Maybe I should have posted this in the lounge

Meant more for humor than hurt.

[ComerPerro]

33. Now I know what to get my fiancee when we get married next October

Wonder how long it will take her to draw blood...

[Jed Dilligan]

37. Take comfort, ladies

That "favorite meal" he demanded every night probably gave the SOB colon cancer.

I love the body language in the image btw.

[johnnie]

39. 1955?

Hell, read F.R. sometime. A lot of that sounds more like a conservatives viewpoint in 2006 than 1955.

[malaise]

40. Seriously my mother and her friends

were rolling on the floor laughing about this way back then. My dad was quite a sexist and when he made comments about how his mother ran her house my mum would tell him he should have married her.

My mum was college educated and worked all her life, despite his protests. She had her own friends from childhood and they even took occasional summer holidays away from dad and we kids. She found being Catholic very convenient for those Catholics organized their trips all over the globe. My mum was decades ahead of women of her generation.

This is fall down funny.

I'll print a copy for my better half later and show him the part about my failure to let him stay out all night. :rofl: :rofl:

[Generator]

43. Arrange his pillow

slowly over his face and push.

Noooooooooo..this was a fun read.

I especially like "don't complain even if he's out all night!" No wonder some men hate feminists-the good old days-for them-whoa doggie!

[deaniac21]

46. Be a little gay??

[smalll]

48. That one seems so up-to-the-minute, doesn't it?

"Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it."

That's right girls, it's up to YOU to find another lady to bring home to provide your husband a little girl-on-girl watching pleasure, then let him join in and make it a threesome! He deserves it!
:rofl:

[allisonthegreat]

47. damn that thing still making the rounds-well good!!

Somebody showed that to me three weeks ago..it certainly has made the rounds..roflmao!

[intheflow]

49. Totally illogical.

how can a woman be both "more interesting" and yet keep her trap shut because "his topics of conversation are more important?" :eyes:

[leftofthedial]

51. ah. those were the days.

no wonder this country has gone down the tubes . . .
















oh. uhh, :sarcasm:

[lostnfound]

53. "little treasures and he would like to see them PLAYING the part"

Translation: Warp them at a young age into being who they're not..

Teach them don't be real, you must "Act, act, act."

[GeorgeGist]

54. Ah, the golden age of American hipocrisy...

when everyone knew their place. I get all nostalgic for the good old days. :sarcasm: sorta