"Playboy Joins The Battle Of The Sexes" - Barbara Ehrenreich

   In this reading, Hugh Hefner gave an identity to these single men. To them it wasn't about getting married anymore or having a family to spend their money on. It was about them and living that luxurious single life! Hefner brought out a new idea of manliness. Having the luxurious bachelor pad, buying luxurious things to put in it, having multiple women come over and not having to spend your money on them or on a family. It was strictly, working hard for the money and splurging it on whatever he felt was necessary for HIM.

   I found the reading to be interesting because of the way these men were given this whole new identity that they all wanted, even married men, but mostly because of the way women were portrayed as "Gold Diggers." It may have seemed that way since women were ruling the household, nagging their husbands and taking the money he made and spending it on themselves.

   When Playboy came about, it was an amazing thing for men. They were no longer driven out of their homes. Playboy helped them regain their mental freedom and their place in their home. Playboy offered them this illusion that they could enjoy in their own homes. They didn't have to go elsewhere for it. Playboy gave them that idea that it was okay to spend money and live a fabulous life.

"Masked Man" by Steven Cohan and "Pillow Talk"

    This reading shows the "masculinity" of men back in the 1950's. Holden also known as Hal is the main actor in the movie called Picnic. Hal is stocky and muscular. He is the guy that women see and they just melt.Throughout the reading, Hal is looked at from many viewpoints: Milly's curiosity, Mudge's attraction, Flo's suspicion, Bomber's rivalry, Rosemary's hostility, and Mrs. Pott's admiration. The woman that plays the lead role in the movie falls for his rugged, chiseled look. Every time she sees him around, she loses herself. When Hal's shirt rips, his abs are exposed and she is completely consumed by him. "But let me tell you something- you're a fake!...and what Rosemary exposes is the male masquerade-witness his muscle-flexing, his showing-off, his lying-that constitutes his virility (pg. 178)." Rosemary basically tells Hal off. She lets him know straight forward that he is scared to act his age and he is trying to get women by showing off his body.
    At the beginning of "Pillow Talk", Brad shows his masculinity by being on the phone with different woman singing the same song to them, but just changing up the names. He gets into argumentative situations with Jan because he is always on the phone and it defeats her from getting her work done. He was a well dressed, well groomed, handsome man and he had charm. Those qualities in a man is what women love. However, after talking to his best friend Johnathan (who is in love with Jan), he decided to pretend to be a visitor from Texas and try not to let his identity get out to Jan. Eventually, when Johnathan finds out what Brad is doing with the woman that he loves, he confronts Brad aboout it and tell him to go away to Connecticut to work on his songs. There he invites Jan to go along with him and Jan finds the song sheets and realizes Rex is really Brad. She is so angry that she left him and Brad realizes he is in love and finds any way possible to get her attention. Jan ends up re-decorating his apartment and does a horrific job. Brad so angry, walks to her apartment, kicks her door down, picks her up, walks her all the way to his apartment and throws her on his bed. He continues to show how upset he is and Jan finally realizes she wants to be with this man. They end up getting married and having children.
    Brad shows his masculinity, by showing his charm to these woman, but then finally realizing he loves Jan, calls all the women he has been with and breaks it off with them and wants to marry Jan. He goes to her apartment and picks her up with his hands and makes her feel infuriated at first, but eventually she seemed to like it. Men have this type of way of putting up this masculine front to get away from situations until they realize that this is who they want to spend their life with or realize they made a huge mistake.

"The Sexualized Woman" by Donna Penn

This reading was by far one of the most interesting readings I've read throughout this semester. It was a bit surprising for me to see that lesbians came about in the 1950's. Prostitution and homosexuality were looked down upon from society. Lesbians were referred to as "sexual deviants," but they strayed away from society's norms. They were both grouped together because they were different from the norms of women in the 1950's. Lesbians and prostitutes were outcasts and that is why they were thought of together. As I kept on reading I understood why that was. Both lesbians and prostitutes did not have any attraction to males. Also, they lived a very promiscuous life. Both of these ways were not what was expected from women. These women did not want to get married or have children. Lesbians were also called "butch." These women changed their image to look more masculine for their feminine girlfriends. Everyone tried to figure out why it was these women were going against the norms including police, doctors, and psychoanalysts. Towards the end of the reading, it was interesting to know these women stood up for what they believed in and kept their freedom in a way. Homosexuality have come a long way and in almost every state now a law was passed for same sex marriage. There is still some improvement to be done, but legalizing same sex marriage is a start.

"Sex and the Single Girl" by Hellen G Brown and "Kinsey Report" by Alfred Kinsey

BROWN:   

     In the 1950's women were suppose to get married and have children. That was society's norm. However, this reading shows this particular women had many relationships before finding her Mr. Right. She explains a lot about being single and the advantages it has. She also spoke about being with men, single or married. I honestly believe what she says about dating married  men because I know people who have dated married men and women and all they wanted to do was be with that other person. They wanted to spend that time with that other person rather than fixing their marriage. Even movies that show on television emphasize that.

     I found it interesting when she spoke about how single women's sex life is much more exciting than a married women's sex life. Single women have variety. Men view single women as sexy, seductive, mysterious, smart and independent which makes them want her more. It looks to me that with her being single it gave her life meaning. She was able to gain some confidence, find her identity and have experience before finding her husband.

KINSEY:
     The Kinsey Report was very interesting to read especially in 1948 and 1953. The age that males were engaing in coitus was younger than females. Another interesting one was bisexuality. Males were engaging in that way more than females were. I assumed that females would have been more becasue they would want to practice certian things before actually engaging in sex with a man. In extramarital sex males were engaging in affiars a whole lot more than females were. Their numbers were so much more higher than females. In the oral sex category females at 19.1% performed oral sex to a male before marriage and males were only 10%. If a report was done like that now in today's society im pretty sure the numbers would vary just as they did here in this report. Although, it would be very interesting to see what the numbers look like.

"Howl" by Allen Ginsberg & "How I Became Hettie Jones" by Hettie Jones

       Howl is a poem taken place during the Beat rebellion. At first, the poem seems disorganized and Ginsberg is just ranting, but then it gets more interesting. It showed the mentality and the lives the Beats lived. The poem talks about how they did drugs and drank alcohol all the time. They also spoke about being homeless and going place to place.  It showed the Beats were very carefree and did whatever they wanted to do at the spur of the moment.
      How I Became Hettie Jones was about a white woman who was married to an African man, Leroi Jones. It was about their lifestyle during the Beat rebellion. She talks about her how she helps her husband with his work while working herself. Hettie explains as their first child, Kellie, came she felt alone because Roi would leave her alone and go about his business with other women. Beats are suppose to keep "cool" and not show any emotion at all. Roi loses his cool when finds Hettie at another guy's house, Mike. Roi was yelling and calling Hettie inappropriate names. They both had extramarital affairs, but still remained married and had their second child, Lisa.
      Both of these readings give us more information of how people lived their lives during the Beat rebellion. It went into further discussion of what we discussed in class.

"Early Rebels" and "Beat Rebellion"- Barbara Ehrenreich

These readings were very interesting to read. "Early Rebels" is similar to "The Problem That Has No Name." Instead of the reading focusing on women, it focuses on men. They describe everything as a conformity.They took white collar jobs and got married because that's what they were suppose to do, not what they wanted to do. The men who were married were annoyed by their nagging wives. Men of course, blamed the wife for the way they felt. So, they would go to work to escape that. They felt like their wife pressured them into living this certain life and keep up with latest things the neighbors had. In "The Beat Rebellion" these men did pretty much what they wanted to do without a care in the world. They did not want to get married or have children. They went through plenty of women and ran away from whatever responsibilities they had. If they got married they felt like they would be enslaved. They were just completely over the American dream and life.This reading was also related to "Sexual Puzzles" because it deals with the good girl, bad girl, playboy and the beat. Just as women felt pressured to do certain things, men did also.

"The Organization Man " - William Whyte

This reading was a bit confusing at times, but I was able to draw that there was uniformity in the suburban community. Couples started moving to the suburbs when they started working and had a steady paycheck. People in the workplace were competing with one another to see who could reach the top first. Whoever was the one to reach the top or move up into a higher level, moved to the suburbs into a nice house where they could buy fancy, expensive furniture to put in it. Wives even started to work out and lose weight and flaunt their bodies. People started to buy certain things their neighbors had. I think that is a little crazy, but even in today's society that happens. If a new pair of Jordan's came out and one child has it, another child that sees that, wants it too. This is where the idea of Inconspicuous Consumption came in. Couples were buying things because they saw their neighbor with it. They felt if they bought these things they were looked upon as happy and rich. But they were really going into debt. The younger couples were the ones who suffered more from that because they wanted to feel like they were on top and had it all.

"The Feminine Mystique" - Betty Friedan

     "The Feminine Mystique" talks about the dilemmas and problems women had as traditional housewives. One of the biggest issues mentioned in the reading is that women were deemed as finding a husband and having numerous babies. That was their lifelong goal set by society. That was how it was supposed to be in the 50's. Women were feeling that something else needed to be done in their lives. They were happy and all with their husbands and children, but felt like something was missing. Women tried to find their personality. They felt like all the time was going into cleaning the house, doing laundry, cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner, doing homework with the children, taking them to sports events and serving their husbands when they come home from work. They were so exhausted by the time the day was done, there was no time for themselves just to relax. Women who did not want to become housewives and wanted a career and to be independent were going against the norms and the preferences of society. Women kept there thoughts to themselves. They felt ashamed to have anyone to know they feel a certain way about their home life. This probably what Friedan pertains to when she states women have a "Problem That Has No Name."

Roses, Dreams, and Diaphragms - Dan Wakefield

       This was a very interesting reading. It was informative to see the sexual puzzles from a man's point of view of how things were and how sex was viewed back then. It is very similar to the way women talked about sex in "Sexual Puzzles." In the 50's, in order to have sexual intercourse and for it to deemed as being okay was the fact that you had to be married first. Now, in today's society that is something that does not happen. Back then men had the same issue women had. They were curious to see what sex was all about. The funny thing, was the fact that they made it a priority to lose their virginity. Most of the time they just did it with another person who had the same understanding as him and also wanted to lose it. It wasn't for love, it was more of just doing it to gain confidence in yourself and some knowledge of what sex was like. And if they did lose it to someone and wasn't a virgin anymore, they had to try to keep it hush hush so no one would be able to tell that they lost their virginity and be looked at in another way by society.
      Another interesting part in the reading was on page 226 when Sandy went to get her diaphragm. In the 50's birth control was not available and women believed the diaphragm was the most effective thing to prevent pregnancy. Most of the women at this time had one and were recommending other girls to go get one. When Sandy went to get one, she explained to the doctor she wanted to have sex with her boyfriend and not get pregnant. When he was finished fitting her for the diaphragm, he told her she was off to the races. The doctor believed that she would become promiscuous and maybe even other women who had the diaphragm.
     Overall, this reading had many themes, principles and beliefs that Wakefield covered. I believe Wakefield did a good job covering all this material of the social and sexual norms, the struggles these males in college had as well as pointing out a few the women had also, back in the 50's.

Sexual Puzzles

       Thinking about the 50's, I think of the man of the family being very successful and wealthy. He is the breadwinner in the family while the woman stays home and takes care of the children and household duties. I think of that man walking down the street with his business suit on, hair slicked back, briefcase in his hand and a trench coat on.
        When I finished reading "Sexual Puzzles", that was the total opposite of what I thought about. I did not think that in the 50's women would be more open to having sex or thinking about dressing in a way that they would show more skin. The article showed me that people in the 50's were just as curious as people are today about sex. In the article it stated that teens were a bit confused as to what was the right thing for them to do being that society contradicted what their parents taught them. "Should I keep my purity or should I see what sexual opportunities arise"? The media practically promoted sexual behavior with new advertisements. They had new clothing and make up available that would make girls look more sexually appealing.
       Although these girls had thought about maintaining a bad girl image, they also had to think about still acting like a young lady because at this point in time marriage was the most important thing. These girls had to decide whether to still maintain a good girl image to get married and start a family or fail and have a bad girl image. This reading was a real eye opener to me and it was very interesting to know that the 50's was the start of things changing to what society is now.