Peggy Wards

I realized that in the 1980’s, women were becoming very successful and America was okay with it. Women were still making money to support their family but this time, they had more serious jobs. One would think that society would be opposed to this idea because men were traditionally the ones with major league jobs, however society was not. An analysis in 1981 from Mademoiselle, did a study on whether “Men will still love us as much now that we dare to love ourselves and our work as much as we love them” (Collins 450). The shocking answer to this study was yes; men were now fully supportive of whatever their wives wanted to do. This change in society, shows how far women have come. It surprised me that an article of clothing, could cause such a commotion regarding how women felt about their bodies. The mini skirt was the start of this self consciousness and developed new derogatory terms such as, “Thunder thighs”. Even today, I hear this term and immediately get upset. The book states that “Worrying about getting fat had been a preoccupation for most of the century, …show more content…
What upset me about Peggy's story was that she was threatened to be expelled from the band unless she lost weight. Peggy was a healthy 16 year old girl, however society at this time did not think so. Peggy’s band instructor said that, “Audiences at football games had been jeering at the drum majorettes, and set a limit of 100 pounds for girls who were five feet tall, with an extra five pounds for every additional inch of height” (Collins 342). It angers me that a male gets to decide how much a teenage girl should weigh. Sadly, Peggy began skipping meals to get to the weight limit of 126 pounds. When she weighed in at 127 pounds, she had to sit on the bleachers while her band performed. I am astonished and saddened by society's standards of perfection in this