https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p By: Adam Donahue and Joshua Grissman en-us 2021-04-22 00:08:35 UTC 2026-02-27 04:18:02 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/2764.png donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446804140 In the aftermath of the second world war, there was a flood in the labor market as men returned home to find women in their positions, having taken them so that the country and the war effort could continue while the men were away. Most men got their jobs back, but many women still wished to keep on in the labor market.]]> 2021-04-22 12:14:21 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446804140 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446834530 One of the first icons that one would think of with regards to women’s empowerment.]]> 2021-04-22 12:23:17 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446834530 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446866484 Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics]]> 2021-04-22 12:32:12 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446866484 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446888964 The main idea is that women, after the war’s end, steadily increased their participation in the labor force. This was a significant factor in the upcoming 3rd wave of feminism that calls for social equality, which makes sense, as women are beginning to achieve financial and personal independence in this time period.]]> 2021-04-22 12:38:04 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446888964 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446932089 2021-04-22 12:47:52 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446932089 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446954747 Source: Census Bureau]]> 2021-04-22 12:52:54 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446954747 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446973816 Most important is to focus on the cohort of those turning 15 between 1954 and 1963. By twenty years old, nearly half of all those surveyed had had premarital sex, despite the fact that the average age of first marriage had dropped down to that exact age: 20.]]> 2021-04-22 12:57:12 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1446973816 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447003763 "Buddy was amazingly close to his mother. He was always quoting what she said about the relationship between a man and a woman, and I knew Mrs. Willard was a real fanatic about virginity for men and women both. When I first went to her house for supper she gave me a queer, shrewd, searching look, and I knew she was trying to tell whether I was a virgin or not" (Plath  Chapter 6 - Page 71).

As is quite clear, at the time, premarital sex was still considered to be irresponsible and unclean. This ties directly into Philomena, with Philomena being led from a young age to regard sex as sinful and merely human lust.]]> 2021-04-22 13:03:24 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447003763 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447034307 Philomena is a movie based on a true story about Philomena Lee, who has nonmarital sex in the 1950s and becomes pregnant. The convent of nuns who house her ostracize her for her “sin” and take her child away from her to put up for adoption. The story is her search for her son as an old lady with the journalist Martin Sixsmith. Over the course of the story, the deeply devoted and pious Philomena shows how this Puritanical way of thinking has led her to consider what she did to be a sin. ]]> 2021-04-22 13:09:28 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447034307 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447049159 Esther is finally getting on birth control towards the end of The Bell Jar, and she describes it as freeing, as she is no longer liable to any man to become pregnant as a result of sex.

“I climbed up on the examination table, thinking: ‘I am climbing to freedom, freedom from fear, freedom from marrying the wrong person . . . I was my own woman” (Plath Chapter 18 - Page 223).]]> 2021-04-22 13:12:19 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447049159 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447090874 “The trouble was, I hated the idea of serving men in any way. I wanted to dictate my own thrilling letters” (Plath Chapter 10, Page 64).

When considering learning shorthand, Esther inwardly cringes away from the idea; she wishes to be her own successful woman. As this takes place in the ‘50s, we already see the burden of domesticity start to weaken after the women’s war effort on the domestic front. Esther was previously an editor for a fashion magazine, already showing how women can have mobility in places like the media, which ere previously considered just for men. True, the ‘50s are characterized by suburban domesticity, but the ball is now rolling for the coming decades to chip away at the cult of domesticity.]]> 2021-04-22 13:19:53 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447090874 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447137697 Esther finds out that her previous love interest, Buddy Willard, has actually had sex before quite a few times. This doesn’t frustrate Esther because of jealousy, but because Buddy is held by everyone around him to be a pure and respectable man, despite the fact that if a woman had had premarital sex, she would lose that respect in the community.

“I couldn’t stand the idea of a woman having to have a single pure life and a man being able to have a double life, one pure and one not” (Plath Chapter 7 - Page 81).]]> 2021-04-22 13:28:22 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447137697 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447187321 “From World War II through the 1960s, America was deluged with articles claiming that boys and men, as never before in history, were “confused about what they should and should not do to fulfill their masculine roles” (Bailey 103).

As a result of women’s brief takeover of the workforce and their subsequent gains after the men returned home from the war, there is now much insecurity from men about what it means to be masculine if women are also having jobs and financial self-sufficiency.]]> 2021-04-22 13:37:20 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447187321 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447237007 “‘Good etiquette, for a man, is whatever makes him a woman feel more like a woman, without making her feel weakminded. . . . Good etiquette, for a woman, is whatever makes a man feel more like a man, without making him feel more harassed and put upon than he normally does anyway,’ explained a book of contemporary manners in 1959” (Bailey 97).

Taking into account the post-war developments between men and women, it is easy to see why a culture of hypermasculinity and hyperfemininity would develop. It became the norm that men were to quickly pay the bill on dinners and rush to open the door for their date, as this was considered protective and assertive. In exchange, women were to make room for their date’s masculinity and allow themselves to be protected and led.]]> 2021-04-22 13:45:57 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447237007 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447247411 Going steady refers to a relationship being “official”, instead of a relationship that gives its man and woman relative freedom to circulate around with other potential partners.]]> 2021-04-22 13:47:52 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447247411 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447255330 2021-04-22 13:49:17 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447255330 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447265551 Popular culture has become the means of disseminating and justifying society’s values. It makes sense, then, that shows in the ‘50s, such as Father Knows Best and I Love Lucy would depict domesticity in favorable terms. The latter would even have Lucy go out of her usual way of domestic responsibilities to find employment. Each time, it would end as a failure. ]]> 2021-04-22 13:51:12 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447265551 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447285908 Esther thinks back to Buddy Willard, with his stiff, old-fashioned ideals for dating. She finds that she can’t relate in the slightest to a need for security and protection from one man, or a desire to be a man’s rock from which he can pursue his ambitions while she’s tied up at home. What she longs for instead is freedom and mutual companionship, not codependency.

“He was always saying how his mother said, "What a man wants is a mate and what a woman wants is infinite security," and, "What a man is is an arrow into the future and what a woman is is the place the arrow shoots off from," until it made me tired" (Plath Chapter 6 - Page 72).]]> 2021-04-22 13:54:56 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447285908 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447319732 This picture implores women not to get jealous even when their man is flirting with another woman. Instead, the woman is supposed to simply “be more attractive” than the other woman. This reinforces stereotypes that the woman is supposed to be attractive for the man’s benefit and judgment, which is still a sentiment that we see today.]]> 2021-04-22 14:01:04 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447319732 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447358394 2021-04-22 14:08:09 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447358394 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447410110 "Instead of the world being divided up into Catholics and Protestants or Republicans and Democrats or white men and black men or even men and women, I saw the world divided into people who had slept with somebody and people who hadn't, and this seemed the only really significant difference between one person and another" (Plath Chapter 7 -  Page 82).

Esther still hasn’t had sex with anyone and doesn’t until much later in The Bell Jar, and she feels this distinct characteristic identifying her as someone who has yet to be intimate or steady with another person. Dating Buddy Willard almost sufficed, but he was incompatible the whole time they dated; she just didn’t know. Despite the stigma against nonmarital and premarital sex, she still feels the pressure to partake, especially given how many other do in their youth.]]> 2021-04-22 14:17:16 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447410110 donaha0097 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447433071 "The main point of the article was that a man's world is different from a woman's world and a man's emotions are different from a woman's emotions and only marriage can bring the two worlds and the two different sets of emotions together properly. My mother said this was something a girl didn't know about till it was too late, so she had to take the advice of people who were already experts, like a married woman" (Plath  Chapter 7 - Page 81).

Having already formed and consolidated relationships, the adults and parents of the 1950s were in good position to define what etiquette and proper values were. Despite the youth forming their own generational norms of sex and dating, they still relyed frequently on the experience of those who came before, allowing the older generations to generate the right narrative to preserve certain values in courtship.]]> 2021-04-22 14:21:17 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1447433071 grissj0046 https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1454216972 Joshua Grissman]]> 2021-04-24 06:18:18 UTC https://padlet.com/grissj0046/cdr6c9lu1bqp0z3p/wish/1454216972