1950s Suburbia: Portrait of the American Suburbs (1/2) (1957

[styky]

1950s Suburbia: Portrait of the American Suburbs (1/2) (1957)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zVUUFBEHss

1950s Suburbia: Portrait of the American Suburbs (2/2) (1957)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBzglUxE ... ure=fvwrel

[backhoe]

I sure remember a lot of that stuff- including the fridge with the pedal you stepped on to open the door.

[Kate Shaw]

Funny to think that the people this extensive commercial refers to as "Young Adults" are called "children" today...and are marching in the streets DEMANDING....

I had dresses like those "young adults" were wearing. They were much more flattering than what I wore in the 1960s.

[Julian]

It makes one wonder how America fell so damn far so fast. It isn't a mystery, liberalism and feminism started the plunge, although initially both movements were well intended and had justification for being they were all too soon co-opted by leftists and radicals who morphed the honourable and just intentions into hateful exclusive political movements that ore little if any resemblance to the original intent.

In spite of all of the faults with society in the 1950's it was a better society than we see around us today. People still had liberty, freedom, privacy the expectation that the future would be better than the past.

[styky]

It makes one wonder how America fell so damn far so fast. It isn't a mystery, liberalism and feminism started the plunge, although initially both movements were well intended and had justification for being they were all too soon co-opted by leftists and radicals who morphed the honourable and just intentions into hateful exclusive political movements that ore little if any resemblance to the original intent.

In spite of all of the faults with society in the 1950's it was a better society than we see around us today. People still had liberty, freedom, privacy the expectation that the future would be better than the past.

Because it was before the day we "freed women" so that they could work 24/7 inside and outside the home. We also made the government our father so to speak and made it mandatory to belittle men (watch a commercial, any commercial, if you want proof). We don't play together unless that is we are under heavy rules with no one declared a winner or loser because gawd forbid we have hurt feelings. We don't give children limits or grades because that might give them a complex. Children and many select adults depending on your background are not responsible for their actions if they have the last syndrome and blacks may now have freedom but it's A okay to discriminate against whites. I'll probably be reported for that last comment but you get what I'm saying don't you.

[styky]

Just a second here, You mean people don't darn socks any more???? You mean I've been doing this by myself


The magic of Fifties suburbia when socks were darned, baths shared and kids roamed wild. Only now does Michelle Hanson appreciate what a glorious age it was to grow up in

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1nFh61xoh

[Kate Shaw]

I have nieces and nephews who are living pretty much like that in 2012. They aren't as cutesy about it as the house-players were in the 1950s, but then again, they had seen a lot more of Life by the time they married and began to have children than their parents had ever seen. In fact, my nieces and nephews are more like their grandparents than they are like their parents.

My great-nieces and great-nephews play lots of the same games as we played; my sisters are amazed that their grandkids ignore the toys that play by themselves and instead build "forts" out of blankets, chairs and tables just like we did!

[styky]

I have nieces and nephews who are living pretty much like that in 2012. They aren't as cutesy about it as the house-players were in the 1950s, but then again, they had seen a lot more of Life by the time they married and began to have children than their parents had ever seen. In fact, my nieces and nephews are more like their grandparents than they are like their parents.

My great-nieces and great-nephews play lots of the same games as we played; my sisters are amazed that their grandkids ignore the toys that play by themselves and instead build "forts" out of blankets, chairs and tables just like we did!

My sis and I were just chatting the other day about a game that we were addicted to along with every other girl in the grade school. We called it Yogi though I'm sure others called it a different name. It was played with a length of sewing elastic tied and strung between the ankles of two players. The third player did a game of what I can only describe as cats cradle the string game only done with your feet. There is a reason non of us were over weight, we skipped it off. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-nyeSgowBo

[styky]

Women as the breadwinners: Turning the traditional model of gender roles in marriage on its head

Sarah Boesveld Feb 25, 2012 – 8:00 AM ET | Last Updated: Feb 26, 2012 1:54 PM ET
When Nicole Winchester has to work late from home, her husband Gary slips a hot meal between her and her laptop. On a typical week, he’ll do the shopping, the dishes and most of the cleaning. The laundry is also his domain, mainly because he likes it done just so.

Ms. Winchester hasn’t the time for (or admittedly, the interest in) the domestic sphere. She’s too busy as the breadwinner in their Toronto household, having brought home significantly more bacon as a television producer during their seven year marriage thus far.

He’s got the more flexible, albeit lower paying, job and therefore has more time for these duties, she said. He’s also relieved she has the education and work experience to be the high earner in their house — something that jarred Ms. Winchester at first.

“I was a little surprised because you always expect men to have that sort of issue, or at least you’re taught to expect that,” the 37-year-old said. “But Gary’s never had an issue with me making more money. He’s been like ‘If you make more money than me, that’s awesome — then we have more.’”

In the last few decades, women have come to gradually outpace men in education, with women making up 60% of university graduates in Canada, and in earnings growth, with the average total income for women in Canada increasing at nearly twice the pace of men’s. And as this outpacing across North America only seems to accelerate, working women are poised to eclipse men as the primary household breadwinners — a cultural shift that is changing the dynamics between husband and wife, turning the traditional model of gender roles in marriage on its head and even shaping the way younger generations view an institution at risk.

What happens in a new order that’s still in transition, when the hard won equality among partners is surpassed as mom rushes off to work while dad takes the kids to the playground, wonders Washington Post reporter Liza Mundy, author of the forthcoming book The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family, due out in March.

“We want to marry somebody with the same degree set we have, we want equality and we want parity,” Ms. Mundy said in an interview this week. “It is sometimes, for some women, unnerving when they find themselves pulling ahead of their partner.”

Provided

The cover of The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Sex, Love and Family, by Liza Mundy.

She cites 2009 United States labour bureau data which shows the percentage of working wives who outearn their husbands has increased from 23.7% in 1987 to 37.7% in 2009 and that has likely increased since then because of the economic downturn, researchers say. In Canada, the proportion of wives who were primary household earners rose from 11% to 19% between 1967 and 1982 and continued to rise until about one in four, or 29% of households, were dual earner in 2003 —in many households, women were the big earners, according to the most recent figures. “The continued rise suggests that women in the role of primary breadwinner is not likely a temporary phenomenon,” Statistics Canada analysts Deborah Sussman and Stephanie Bonnell wrote in 2006.

Based on this incredible rise between 1987 and 2009, Ms. Mundy projects that by 2030, a majority of working wives and single mothers supporting their households will outearn the traditional breadwinning male. While men are still the top earners as a whole, today’s baby-boom executives will be retired in 20 years, she said, paving a clear path for the next generation of educated women.

Many of the women she interviewed for her book said they had harmonious homes — that of course times have changed and the household is run by pragmatics: Whose career is taking off, who has the highest earning potential, who actually likes cooking and cleaning and making the beds? They’d figure it out, and the house would run smoothly from there.

But some tensions were impossible to ignore: Sure, men had their insecurities, but the ones women expressed were most interesting, Ms. Mundy said.

“It can be disconcerting, even if you’re proud of it,” she said. “Some women don’t want to get trapped as the primary breadwinner. They feel they’re going to lose flexibility and choice in their lives — maybe if they want to stay home with the kids it’s going to be less feasible? They are getting their head around the idea that they’re providing.”

One woman told Ms. Mundy she had lost her feelings for her husband after she went to work and he became the caregiver at home, saying she “respected him less as a man.”

“I interviewed this one really progressive feminist who admitted ‘Sometimes, I know it’s wrong, but I just had these spasms of thinking ‘It’s my money, not our money,’” Ms. Mundy said.

Ms. Winchester admits to feeling that way too sometimes. She and her husband have been paying down debt, but when she wants to buy something for herself, she can feel a fleeting wave of resentment that she cannot.

“I know it [seems like a] childish thing, but at the same time I’m thinking ‘I make the money, why can’t I buy an iPad?’ That was my thing — if I make this money, why can’t I go out and buy a computer if I want to?”.........................http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/25 ... -its-head/

[backhoe]

Regarding this?

Women as the breadwinners: Turning the traditional model of gender roles in marriage on its head

The point of a marriage is that you work as a team.

I've worn my heart on my sleeve enough around here that if you care to search my writings you can find it, but I'll recap:

From 1984 when I married Miss Emily to 1999 when she got the best job she'd ever had and “why don't you stay home & take care of the house & Taffy and let's see if we can stretch my paycheck enough to get by on?” I supported her.

When we entered that 1999 to 2008 window- that last date was when she quit her job- she was the sole breadwinner & I the housekeeper...
( and I'll freely admit the house was a wreck during that period- funny, if you were to walk into my “quarters” today- the big central room with the bay window, the kitchen & laundry & bath?
You'd find everything neat as a pin & shipshape- all I can draw from that was my Miss Emily created most of the mess... )

But she paid the bills & I took care of the household side of it. You work as a team, you pick up what your mate can't, and you carry it.

And no, it's never equal and it's never fair- you give 110% sometimes and other times you take 110%...

That's how it is in real life and if you don't like it? Shut up, man up, & bear the load.

The point of it all is the caring and the sharing, and the bearing.

Together.

All the rest is just “details...”

-30-

[Kate Shaw]

Had I wanted a dependent husband I could have had two or three; however, I am an old fashioned woman who expects the menfolk to lead the way. Not that I'd want to stay home and keep house, at least night when I was young and strong; but I would have wanted him to have a strong interest in something (preferable sports related or a good job in a garage) that would engage his mind and his muscles. I just think men are happier when they are doing something muscular. (And I include classical musician in that category. If you don't think a classical musician is an athlete, you have never watched one practice.)

However, whatever arrangement works for the family is doubtless a good one. And there are certainly men who would make much better housewives than I would.

[RedDog]

I only caught the 50's by a couple months but growing up in the early 60's in suburban America was pretty much exactly like that. We were in the country until I was four and then in true suburbia when I was eight. My mother, an educated woman, put her career on hold until we were in middle school at a point where my younger sister was ok at home alone (doors were rarely locked in those days). Mom returned to conclude a very successful career in business until retirement. By the time dad's health began to fail my mother was making more money than he was - after taking twelve years off for child rearing. After we moved to the east coast our neighbourhood in Old Saybrook was pretty much identical to those depicted in the video presentations.

[Ben Kenobi]

We want to marry somebody with the same degree set we have, we want equality and we want parity

I am an old fashioned woman who expects the menfolk to lead the way. Not that I'd want to stay home and keep house

Then you aren't an old fashioned woman. Sorry Kate.

Kate, I love you, but here's a newsflash. Do you think that the kind of man you are looking for wants what you have to offer?

I'm going to be blunt. If a woman makes a career her priority over starting a family and then gets upset when the hard driven men that she pursues are uninterested in her - well, ok.

There's a reason they don't want a woman who works all the time. They want to work hard at work, and come home to a nice kitchen, with a dinner to play with their kids and enjoy some home time.

Guys are really - super simple. Really - we are.

I think most women who do work aren't really interested in a relationship where they have both equality and parity. They want to be looked after and at the same time have their own space and independence.

And newsflash - if 60 percent of gals have a degree - what does that mean for folks like me who have a degree and are specifically looking for a gal without? Hmm?

You've priced yourself out of the market - and that's why I don't bother with the girls I went to school with because most are exactly like you - looking to climb up at the ladder and brushing aside the men who for whatever reason just don't match up. Then you hit your thirties and start to wonder hey - why aren't the guys calling anymore?

I'm not your tall, dark and handsome. And not I've not been all that successful with my work life so far - but I think I have a lot to offer to the gal who opens her eyes and takes a look around her. But who knows. All I don is just keeping on with what I'm doing and making progress towards a better life.