5/18/2023 0 Comments The H-Spot by Jill FilipovicSexual profligacy was treacherous, and unmarried, sexually active women were a danger to themselves and others: In movies, the femme fatale was a devious Russian spy in postwar propaganda, the allegedly disease-ridden “victory girls” could leave a nice young man returning from war with more than a fond memory in real life, a woman who gave birth out of wedlock might very well find herself ostracized and socially isolated.īaby Boomers were the first American generation to come into sexual maturity with available and extremely reliable birth control fully in women’s hands. Sexual satisfaction was important, but marriage was its proper container. Female sexuality unleashed within marriage would strengthen the family outside marriage, it was seen as a destructive force. The best way to contain their career aspirations was to professionalize homemaking the best way to contain their sexual emancipation was to encourage early marriage and to sexualize the home. “Beneath these notions was a deep fear of women’s economic and sexual independence,” wrote Elaine Tyler May, author of Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era, in a 1988 Los Angeles Times article: In the 1950s, when most Baby Boomers were kids, the rules were pretty clear: Sex was for marriage (or, okay, a little before marriage, so long as you planned on getting married), marriage was the first step to building a family, and the ultimate goal was to have children within the confines of marriage.
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