General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Growing up female [View all]The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,070 posts)by 10 years, and all those things are very familiar. When band instruments were assigned I got the flute, even though I sucked at it. Had to wear a dress or skirt to school; had to take cooking and sewing classes; told not to seem too smart because the boys wouldn't like me; told by my college adviser not to worry about getting a good job after graduation because I would just get married. In those days the employment want-ads in the paper were divided up in separate male/female sections. The Help Wanted-Male jobs were the good ones that paid well; the Help Wanted-Female jobs were the waitresses, secretaries, elementary school teachers and nurses' aides.
Girls who got their ears pierced were "fast." Girls couldn't ask boys for a date - you had to wait for them to ask you or you would be considered too "forward" and they wouldn't like you, except for the annual Sadie Hawkins dance where you were "allowed" to ask a boy to be your date. In general, though, it was considered bad form even to call a boy on the phone.
And we went through hell to be "pretty." Garter belts, tight girdles, big bristly brush rollers you had to sleep on, bras that looked like rocket nose cones. Once you'd hit puberty you couldn't even think about putting on a pair of jeans and playing games with the boys - because then they wouldn't be interested in you as a girlfriend, which was a fate worse than death. Finding a guy was really about all you were good for.
Those days sucked.
And the GOPers seem to want us to go back to them.