An actual 1955 Good Housekeeping article

allnurses Guide · Dec 8, 2006

oh my goodness, i've seen that article more times than i can count. it has made the rounds in cyberspace. actually, i thought that that was from a home economics textbook from the 50's or something.

anyway, totally as a joke, my husband taped that article to the front of our refrigerator one day. i wanted to kill him. :lol2:

anyway, isn't that kinda how things really were back then? before women's lib, and all that?

ick. i will never buy this magazine again
[color=#010101][color=#010101]an actual 1955 good housekeeping article.[color=#010101][color=#010101]
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good housekeeping, real news funnies - office-humour.co.uk

nurseguy55 · Dec 8, 2006

Thaks for posting this article again. I've been commenting, but I hadn't read the story that kicked off the discussion. I was born that year. I wonder how many women spit on the page even back then?

DBlack1 · Dec 8, 2006

Ireally do agree about the tragedy of losing the cohesiveness of that era. But one thing also lost was the personal responsibility of that time. When I hear myself and others blaming societal factors for personal choices I wonder why we aren't focusing on the problem at it's most basic level: Who I choose to share my life with and what kind of relationship are we willing to create. It's so much less academic. For the purpose of lively discussion we can talk about the big picture. But I believe it is an illusion. It is in fact billions of tiny pictures. I may be influenced by the tides of change. But when my eulogy is read, the only person responsible for it's content is me.

Well, I'm glad that you aren't a lemming like many out there today. You also have quite a age gap on my generation, and I'm afraid your logical approach isn't shared by a large group of people my age . I hate making broad generalizations, but your points are correct. People do need to work together in a relationship. Divorce wasn't always considered "hip" or okay. The times have changed, society changes, but not always for the good. There are negatives in the article posted, but damn there were a lot of positives "back then".

I think even setting the article aside, I still would rather have been a husband in that era than present. The same can be said for raising a family.

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Dec 8, 2006

I like the line about a good wife always knows her place...

I know my place, it's on the couch while he fixes dinner.

adrienurse, LPN · Dec 8, 2006

I'm sorry what?

Are people actually defending the way women were treated at that time? That Care and respect only should go in one direction? Okay people I know that people like to get nostalgic and idealize how life in the 50s was perfect because that's the way things were portrayed, but there was no perfect era. There never has been. Nobody talks about the amount of vanilla alcoholics there were back then and the amount of women hooked on valium.

rntammyp · Dec 8, 2006

I'd have to agree with Marla!!

Tammy

Spritenurse1210, BSN, RN · Dec 8, 2006

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAH I actually choked on my coke there for a sec. :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

adrienurse, LPN · Dec 8, 2006

Still on my soapbox

You can choose to believe the "family values" myth that there was less divorce 50 years ago because people were happier and knew their roles.......

Or you can look at the fact that at that time divorce was not socially acceptible, gave the wife no rights and caused people to become excommunicated or shunned by their church groups. That would explain the low numbers of divorce :deadhorse :deadhorse :deadhorse

Alpha_RN · Dec 8, 2006

Sounds like great advice for new wives. :lol2:

Liddle Noodnik · Dec 9, 2006

.. I wonder why we aren't focusing on the problem at it's most basic level: Who I choose to share my life with and what kind of relationship are we willing to create.

Very well said. I have often blamed others for how my life turned out, for the choices I made, and for holding me back from becoming the "authentic me".

It is essential for me to know that I am responsible for much of what happened. And that I'm responsible for what happens next.

BTW I am 47 for someone who mentioned age gaps. Being liberated is great, if you know what you are liberating yourself FROM. Don't just copy what someone says you "should" be, or should be doing. If you want to be barefoot and pregnant, it's ok (well, not YOU, nurseguy55. Unless you know something I don't know!)

TrudyRN · Dec 9, 2006

:smiletea: :eek: :smokin: :confused:

Actually, it's not at all clear that it is "real":
http://www.snopes.com/language/document/goodwife.htm

I assure you it is totally for real. Watch some old "I Love Lucy" shows and see how Ricky actually spanks Lucy for bad behavior. This show and "The Donna Reed Show", "Father Knows Best", and any number of others made in the 50's portray this way of belief. Also, I know from having grown up during that era that this is genuinely the way our foremothers were taught was right. I was, too.

Yes, things are totally different now, except in certain quarters, such as among Orthodox Jewish women and perhaps other Orthodox religions. Even less orthodox but still conservative groups teach that the man is the head of the home and has the last word and that women are to serve their men and be protected by their men.

I hear young girls say they are complete without marriage or men and I just marvel. part of me thinks it's great and part of me doesn't.:uhoh21:

TrudyRN · Dec 9, 2006

Must have been pretty darn good to be a man back then.

not necessarily. Men were expected to support their family themselves and be bastions of strength. Pillars. Rocks. Always strong. Like Gibraltor. They had a great deal more freedom than women but still had societal and religious expectations to meet up to.