Susan's Place Transgender Resources

My sister sent my mother an email yesterday and the contents were rather humorous. We often talk about what a man and a woman is but that has changed over time. In searching for the original, I found it in several different places and one was in a 1950 home economics book. I hope you enjoy reading about the 1950's gender roles (https://www.littlethings.com/1950s-good-housewife-guide/).

Quote from: Dena on September 05, 2018, 02:45:51 PM
1950's gender roles (https://www.littlethings.com/1950s-good-housewife-guide/).

This sounds very much like my role in the last decade of marriage.  Well, I didn't touch up my makeup 15 minutes before my spouse arrived home, but other than that...

I suppose that one has to bear in mind that 1955 was in the era when the occupation of housewife still existed and that even nowadays, many women want to know how to please a man (and vice versa) whether or not they plan to actually do so.

Even so, I can't help wondering whether the article is intentionally a little ironic:

"Let him talk first — remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours."

"Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him."

I was born in 1955.  My mother had many fine qualities but my earliest memories include my father dodging pots and pans when he arrived home.  If only he had shown my mother this article.  I doubt that it would have helped, though.

Huh?
"10.) You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first — remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours."

This is laughable!

You ladies make me laugh!  :laugh:

I remember the 1950's. I was born in 1949.

Keep in mind that in the 1950's men often wore a suit and tie just to go out of the house and only the daring women wore slacks outside as well. It was a different time with different standards of dress.

Quote from: JudiBlueEyes on September 05, 2018, 03:13:31 PM
Huh?
"10.) You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first — remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours."

This is laughable!

Yep. The last thing I need is another hour long gripe fest about how his manager treated him. It's bad enough when I have to smell the oil all over his clothes when they run stainless steel sheets.

Our relationship is very departed from the way things were in the nineteen fifties. Even better, my mother refuses to allow my husband to insist we have those roles, and she grew up during that time.

I have a memory of Mum having a 'get herself ready' and my sisters and I tidied up before Dad came home. I know that it didn't last and maybe that is why there is a memory; I'm reflecting now that possibly she saw an article as this and thought it was something to try.

Rule No. 4) Be a little gay...

No problem there...wife and I are still following that one today!  😜

Dad was in charge in our house. He picked what colour washing up gloves he wanted

Along with the gist of this thread, I always will remember the old televisions series re-runs such as:
Leave it to Beaver,  Father Knows Best, I Love Lucy, etc.

     The DAD was always in a suit when he came home from work and he wore his suit at the dinner table with well mannered kids all around the table, the family ate together and actually had cordial conversations with each other!!!

     The MOM was always seen in a house dress, never slacks, hair was always fixed up, etc.   And the dinner and the dinner table were always a perfect picture.

Just distant and fond memories for sure.
Danielle

As my older sister says "Back then your wife and kids were considered your property."

I've always love-hated this retro stuff. It is so amazing how far we have come.

Just think. Women did not even have the right to vote until 1968, when I was just 2 years old. Women were so disenfranchised, the only way they could survive was to get married and have children as soon as possible. My mother was in that position. Women have made so many leaps and bounds since women's liberation began, that we no longer must be subservient to men just to keep a roof over our heads. I am certain some politicians want to reverse that, but it ain't likely. As the current crop die out, women's rights can only grow.

I dont know about USA but I was born in 1948 in Hong Kong and my family had businesses throughout Asia. The female has always been master of the home and manages the finances, Only in public is the woman portrayed as submissive.

Quote from: Lady Sarah on September 05, 2018, 09:43:36 PM
Just think. Women did not even have the right to vote until 1968, when I was just 2 years old.

Women gain the right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Quote from: Dena on September 05, 2018, 10:58:44 PM
Women gain the right to vote with the passage of the 19th amendment in 1920.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

@Dena
Dear Dena...
Many thanks digging our the facts on the rights of women to vote.  I was about to post the following but you apparently had faster fingers.....

The woman's suffrage movement is important because it resulted in passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which finally allowed women the right to vote on August 26, 1920

Hugs,
Danielle

A gentle correction.
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women's suffrage, and was ratified on August 18, 1920, ending almost a century of protest.

Quote from: Lady Sarah on September 05, 2018, 09:43:36 PM
Just think. Women did not even have the right to vote until 1968, when I was just 2 years old. Women were so disenfranchised, the only way they could survive was to get married and have children as soon as possible. My mother was in that position. Women have made so many leaps and bounds since women's liberation began, that we no longer must be subservient to men just to keep a roof over our heads. I am certain some politicians want to reverse that, but it ain't likely. As the current crop die out, women's rights can only grow.

I have several copies of the constitution laying around for references. I even keep a copy of it in my computer bag. The jackpot is my phone where I have the constitution and a copy of the federalist papers so the information is always at my finger tips.

This was very entertaining! I have seen bits and pieces over the years, but not all of it in one place.

Anyways this was my favorite part

QuoteChildren are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

Clearly the author has never met my children..! my treasures are loud, rambunctious, opinionated, whiney and amazing human beings who would not be able to be quiet for more than the blink of an eye. Even that might be pushing it. And I can't imagine what it would be like to force them into the "kids place" box.

Then again, I clearly would make a lousy 1955 housewife , having original thoughts of my own and all. Maybe that's why I'm single?

Wow. Just....wow. I could totally see Tristan and Tyler liking the ideas in that article. My grandpa would absolutely love that article. I will have to show my grandma this so she can have a good laugh.

Quote from: big kim on September 05, 2018, 04:53:37 PM
Dad was in charge in our house. He picked what colour washing up gloves he wanted

Lol. 😂😂

Quote from: Julia1996 on September 06, 2018, 07:25:23 AM
Wow. Just....wow. I could totally see Tristan and Tyler liking the ideas in that article. My grandpa would absolutely love that article. I will have to show my grandma this so she can have a good laugh.

This was the first thing to come to my mind after reading the article!
Wow. Just ......wow.

I must have the part about fixing my makeup and putting on fresh clothes before Tristan gets home backward. I put on makeup and nice clothes before I go out of the house but not to just hang out at home or do stuff around the house. When Tristan gets home he usually gets me in a T-shirt and shorts and a ponytail. When we first started dating I never let him see me without makeup on but after a guy has seen you with bed head, sleep drool and slobber dried all over the side of your face and raccoon eyes from the last traces of your eyemakeup that never come off, the mystery is pretty much over. And as anal as Tristan is about his oral hygiene, he has some serious morning breath so it's not like I want to encourage him to roll over and kiss me before he brushes his teeth anyway.

But I am careful about not vacuuming or making a lot of noise when Tristan gets home. I save vacuuming and making noise for when he, Tyler and my dad are watching football. Lol. Just kidding. If I did that I would be found hanging from a tree by the vacuum cord.

While shocking and a bit funny for sure, things like this and the various sexist ads you see online from the past really horrify me too.

We've come a long way, but it has been a continual struggle to stop those that want to control us, own us, maintain unfair privilege over us, and make us less than. I support anyone taking the role they most love and are comfortable within their relationships as long as they are entirely self-determined, but when those things become ingrained in the culture and there is systemic patriarchy, I believe in resistance.

It's not just a man thing either, there were male feminists back then and even further back, and lots of women were and are still today complicit in sexism. Give me an egalitarian existence over the archy's any day.

Quote from: Alaskan Danielle on September 05, 2018, 05:32:25 PM
Along with the gist of this thread, I always will remember the old televisions series re-runs such as:
Leave it to Beaver,  Father Knows Best, I Love Lucy, etc.

     The DAD was always in a suit when he came home from work and he wore his suit at the dinner table with well mannered kids all around the table, the family ate together and actually had cordial conversations with each other!!!

     The MOM was always seen in a house dress, never slacks, hair was always fixed up, etc.   And the dinner and the dinner table were always a perfect picture.

Just distant and fond memories for sure.
Danielle

Oh geeze, I forgot about the stupid table rule. For some weird reason my dad always made us eat at the table instead of in front of the TV like normal people. Sometimes I missed a good TV show being stuck at the table. Tyler and I could argue and my dad could tell us to shut up before he made us both sleep outside just as easily in front of the TV as at the table.

I've been in worse situations.

Quote
Stepford Wife
1.) Used to describe a servile, compliant, submissive, spineless wife who happily does her husband's bidding and serves his every whim dutifully.

2.) Can also be used to describe a wife who is cookie-cutter & bland in appearance and behavior. Subscribes to a popular look and dares not deviate from that look.

This term is borrowed from the fictional suburb of Stepford, Connecticut in Ira Levin's 1972 novel, The Stepford Wives, later made into movies (in 1975 and 2004). In the story, men of this seemingly ideal town have replaced their wives with attractive robotic dolls devoid of emotion or thought.
1.) She's such a stepford wife, I've seen her greet her husband at the door after work with a beer and a kiss 4 days in a row!

2.) I just got back from the pta meeting, I've never seen so many stepford wives.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Stepford%20Wife