60 years ago, women knew their place

dark crystal

I came across this hilarious article purportedly from 'Houskeeping Monthly' in 1955 on how to be the perfect wife:

http://j-walk.com/other/goodwife/images/goodwifeguide.gif

• Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.
• Prepare yourself. Take 15 minutes to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.
• Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
• Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives. Run a dustcloth over the tables.
• During the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too. After all, catering to his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction.
• Minimize all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Encourage the children to be quiet.
• Be happy to see him.
• Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
• Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
• Don't greet him with complaints and problems.
• Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.
• Make him comfortable. Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or lie him down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him.
• Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.
• Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.
• A good wife always knows her place.

Crazy stuff!



Now, there's nothing at all wrong with a woman choosing to work at home should she choose to do so, but the complete lack of any respect for the woman's feelings at all in this article is hard to comprehend in this day and age.


Also, if I were that husband, I'd be pretty annoyed at having an autobot in place of the girl I fell in love with!



Mad to see how much gender roles have changed in the last 60 years.

chin_grin

MY TIME MACHINE WOR........oh wait.

Pushtrak

We have progressed a lot. But don't be under the delusion that we (humanity) don't have a long way to go in terms of equality in a general sense.

AnonoBoy

Yup. I had that emailed to me in 1997 too.

El Weirdo

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/goodwife.asp

dark crystal

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Yup. I had that emailed to me in 1997 too.

Fair enough. First time I've seen it, though.

kincsem

Wouldn't question any of that.

shopaholic01

Now I know where I've been going wrong! Thanks OP , it's no wonder Irish men are so disheartened.

Show Time

Giving them the vote was when it all went downhill.

FanadMan

El Weirdo wrote: »

http://www.snopes.com/language/document/goodwife.asp

Knew I'd seen that somewhere else before

Scanlas The 2nd

Seems crazy alright, from what I gather people were supposedly happier back then.

stupidusername

marriage wasn't about love op.

IM0

its fake. ask your parents how it was

jester77

where did it all go wrong

kincsem

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Seems crazy alright, from what I gather 50% of people were supposedly happier back then.

Fixed.

Fenian Army

Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

Coming home to find the wife getting it on with another woman would do that I suppose

AnonoBoy

dark crystal wrote: »

Fair enough. First time I've seen it, though.

Cool, you'll love this fresh new vid then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5x5OXfe9KY

dark crystal

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Cool, you'll love this fresh new vid then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5x5OXfe9KY

Ally McBeal rules!!

themadchef

Arrange his pillow? On his face, while he's sleeping with my ass for security, Sure!



Makes for a great read i have to say i thoroughly enjoyed it.

smegmar

ah nostalgia for the days when the divorce rate wasn't 50-60% and men were glad to come back home from a hard days work supporting their family.

Micky Dolenz

Does it say anything about 3somes?

The King of Moo

smegmar wrote: »

ah nostalgia for the days when the divorce rate wasn't 50-60% and men were glad to come back home from a hard days work supporting their family to greet their wives who had just done a hard day's work supporting their family.

Housework and apparently endless preparations for pleasing a darling husband when he gets home is work too.

IM0

smegmar wrote: »

ah nostalgia for the days when the divorce rate wasn't 50-60% and men were glad to come back home from a hard days work supporting their family.

heh...

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

dark crystal wrote: »

[*]Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

Works on me.

smegmar

The King of Moo wrote: »

ah nostalgia for the days when the divorce rate wasn't 50-60% and men were glad to come back home from a hard days work financially supporting their family to greet their wives who had also done a hard day's work caring for their family.

ok fixed. Yes housework is hard work and a very valuable contribution. Men appreciate this, and that is why we need wives to do it, while we're doing the other necessary work.

flutterflye

I think if I was alive back then, I'd just have been a cat lady or something.
No way I could live like that.

Abi

dark crystal wrote: »

Fair enough. First time I've seen it, though.

Me too actually. Entertaining stuff..


/wipes away laughter tear

Dudess

smegmar wrote: »

ah nostalgia for the days when the divorce rate wasn't 50-60% and men were glad to come back home from a hard days work supporting their family.

Don't forget in Ireland marital rape didn't exist either - and there was no contraception so babbies and babbies and babbies. Ah... halcyon days.

The King of Moo

smegmar wrote: »

ok fixed. Yes housework is hard work and a very valuable contribution. Men appreciate this, and that is why we need wives to do it, while we're doing the other necessary work.

Some of use need them, some of us can manage without.

Why I even ate lunch (at work) that I'd cooked myself today! :eek: (and it was delicious!)

jimthemental

I like to think that I'd be all for equality and all that but I have to admit that apart from more regular sex the only reason I'd want a girlfriend is because I can't iron my shirts for shít.

DeeRottie

I'd happily abide by these rules .... but wait, I have to work too!!! Them bills need paying so I know my place is in the workplace. When the hubby makes head of the company with a six figure sum, then I assume I'll have the time on my hands to go through the Stepford Wife-ification Process :rolleyes:

fran17

it all went downhill when women started driving cars...

The King of Moo

fran17 wrote: »

it all went downhill when women started driving cars...in San Francisco.

FYP

starbelgrade

Reminds me of this song.... classic stuff..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0rqaRfsNfg

Capt'n Midnight

You have to remember that in the early part of the last century there were at least two world wars , a lot more accidents at work and massive emigration

there weren't as many men to go around so women had to up their game to claim one

samina

Men also knew their place too, no real men around anymore

RachaelVO

jimthemental wrote: »

I like to think that I'd be all for equality and all that but I have to admit that apart from more regular sex the only reason I'd want a girlfriend is because I can't iron my shirts for shít.

You old romantic you... such a catch!! No girlfriends you say, what a shocker!

dark crystal

Dudess wrote: »

Don't forget in Ireland marital rape didn't exist either - and there was no contraception so babbies and babbies and babbies. Ah... halcyon days.

Even worse was trying to keep all the babbies quiet so as not to wreck the poor husband's head after a hard day at the office!

paddyandy

Adult children are the proof of the success of any marriage .

Biggins

I can say nothing.
My wife is lethal with a frying pan!

SafeSurfer

fran17 wrote: »

it all went downhill when women started driving cars...

Yeah Saudi Arabia is the happiest place on earth.

Owen_S

samina wrote: »

Men also knew their place too, no real men around anymore

You are right in a way - testosterone levels in men have been dropping by 1.2% a year, amongst various other problems that are being ignored by mainstream media resulting in the emasculation of men.

In Edinburgh a recent study by Irwin (2) saw a 25% decrease in sperm count over 20 years

http://www.ispub.com/journal/the-internet-journal-of-urology/volume-2-number-1/the-sperm-count-has-been-decreasing-steadily-for-many-years-in-western-industrialised-countries-is-there-an-endocrine-basis-for-this-decrease.html

delw

Show Time wrote: »

Giving them the vote was when it all went downhill.

And letting them into bars :eek:

Mr.Biscuits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou0X5D8KKB0

fran17 wrote: »

it all went downhill when women started driving cars...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39qdhbkTko4

Battered Mars Bar

Owen_S wrote: »

samina wrote: »

Men also knew their place too, no real men around anymore

You are right in a way - testosterone levels in men have been dropping by 1.2% a year, amongst various other problems that are being ignored by mainstream media resulting in the emasculation of men.

In Edinburgh a recent study by Irwin (2) saw a 25% decrease in sperm count over 20 years

http://www.ispub.com/journal/the-internet-journal-of-urology/volume-2-number-1/the-sperm-count-has-been-decreasing-steadily-for-many-years-in-western-industrialised-countries-is-there-an-endocrine-basis-for-this-decrease.html

Load of c0ck. You'll be saying global warming is real next.

In a more recent study it was found that these dropping levels have stopped dropping.

omgitsthelazor

Sure its grand, we can do as we wish when you're marched off to war like lemmings.

Capt'n Midnight

Biggins wrote: »

I can say nothing.
My wife is lethal with a frying pan!

You're telling me, that fry up last Thursday was wojeus.

LH Pathe

n now it's, german jamaicans with, twisted faces same as it ever was just.. tell me what the place is

paddyandy

60 years ago everybody knew their place .Life was simple then .

The King of Moo

paddyandy wrote: »

60 years ago everybody knew their place .Life was simple then .

For some, and mainly the people for whom life is still relatively simple now.

For other people, their place was in an industrial school or a Magdalene laundry, and that's just in this country.

Life might have been simpler, but it was far from ideal.

paddyandy

The King of Moo wrote: »

For some, and mainly the people for whom life is still relatively simple now.

For other people, their place was in an industrial school or a Magdalene laundry, and that's just in this country.

Life might have been simpler, but it was far from ideal.

We are nearer the IDEAL are we ?????? 500 sucides a year now when it was almost unknown then .