An adolescent female browsing Tumblr sees glamorous images of fifties teens swinging around the sock hop and sipping milkshakes through a straw in a Grease-esque diner. “I was born in the wrong era,” she says.
The jubilant fifties teens join together to do the hand jive in their poodle skirts and leather jackets. “I wish I could have been alive in the fifties,” adolescent girl sighs.
Although the imagery is captivating, it masks the female discontent of the Era of Affluence. What the nostalgic teenage girl does not see is the housewife confined to the kitchen, the overwhelmingly male workforce, or the absence of female government officials. Beginning in 1947 at the conclusion of World War II, the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Russia generated a slew of anti-communist propaganda promoting the perfect American household; thus, promoting the perfect wife. An advertisement from a 1955 issue of Housekeeping Monthly depicts the servile, submissive, and domestic nature of the …show more content…
It urges the wife to take care of her husband, which many would view as an acceptable pillar of marriage, but the advertisement goes further by encouraging her to coddle his every need. The guide suggests the wife light a fire for the husband to “unwind by.” “After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction” (“The Good Wife’s Guide”). If the wife is not overwhelmed with content upon serving her husband, does she fail to meet the standards of a Good Wife? If one partner is superior to the other, this will inevitably lead to displeasure in the relationship, but if both parties generally put their spouse’s needs ahead of their own, it will lead to mutual understanding and respect between the two. “The Good Wife’s Guide,” however, places the husband in a position of power while the wife is expected to oblige him without receiving anything in
The jubilant fifties teens join together to do the hand jive in their poodle skirts and leather jackets. “I wish I could have been alive in the fifties,” adolescent girl sighs.
Although the imagery is captivating, it masks the female discontent of the Era of Affluence. What the nostalgic teenage girl does not see is the housewife confined to the kitchen, the overwhelmingly male workforce, or the absence of female government officials. Beginning in 1947 at the conclusion of World War II, the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Russia generated a slew of anti-communist propaganda promoting the perfect American household; thus, promoting the perfect wife. An advertisement from a 1955 issue of Housekeeping Monthly depicts the servile, submissive, and domestic nature of the …show more content…
It urges the wife to take care of her husband, which many would view as an acceptable pillar of marriage, but the advertisement goes further by encouraging her to coddle his every need. The guide suggests the wife light a fire for the husband to “unwind by.” “After all, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction” (“The Good Wife’s Guide”). If the wife is not overwhelmed with content upon serving her husband, does she fail to meet the standards of a Good Wife? If one partner is superior to the other, this will inevitably lead to displeasure in the relationship, but if both parties generally put their spouse’s needs ahead of their own, it will lead to mutual understanding and respect between the two. “The Good Wife’s Guide,” however, places the husband in a position of power while the wife is expected to oblige him without receiving anything in