"The Sexualized Woman. The Lesbian, the Prostitute, and the Containment of Female Sexuality in Postwar America"

       In the reading “The Sexualized Woman The Lesbian, the Prostitute, and the Containment of female Sexuality in Postwar America” by Donna Penn was quite interesting.  She explains how being a lesbian and a prostitute was frowned upon during that time. She also goes into details of how society viewed both categories, and how these groups were considered to be an illness that needed to be treated. During the 1950's, society only approved those who followed the norms. Some norms that many tried to follow was getting married, which followed by having sex, and also it being a heterosexual marriage. By what I have mentioned as an example of the norms, you can then notice that being a lesbian and being a prostitute was not a norm.
        Lesbians and prostitutes were placed in the same category. This is something I found interesting due to the fact that in my opinion both are two different categories. One in which being a sexual desire for the same sex and the other being a form of job whether willingly or forced to either do it for pleasure, money or both. The author Donna Penn describes why lesbian and prostitutes are connected. She mentions that “earlier in the century, the most prevalent culturally constructed image of lesbianism was rarely linked to prostitution. Instead, expert observers often associated lesbians and “manish women” with unmarried career women, social reformers, and feminist.”  (359) The image started to change during the postwar in which they started to link both. Physical degeneracy was one of the examples linked to the connection of lesbians and prostitutes.
       There was a term that was used to describe them which “deviant females” they were viewed as a threat to society, a "moral decay" in which they were going against all norms that was supposed to portrayed during this time period. During the postwar it was considered to be "national coming out" This was the time that they didnt care to what society thought of what they were doing. They even went public. As i mentioned before society viewed lesbians and prostitutes as an illness that needed to be cured, but why would it be an illness? It reached a point to which they found themseleves as "targets of a law enforcement crusade during the 1950's and 1960's" (371) When reading this i asked my self Why?
      Prostitution may not be an illness but as i mentioned earlier a form of a job. This is something that i do not agree with. I feel that yes society may be right when it comes to how they view prostitutes, even if willingly or forced. In today society prostitution is like a business that many people do not agree with. In some ways prostitution is viewed the same as it was during the 1950's. On the other hand being a lesbian is a choice that many people in society should realize. It is a choice that one has based on how they feel and what makes them happy. This has been a problem for many for a long period of time. But in reality there is nothig we can do about one's attraction to the opposite sex. It is something that I believe society should just accept, which in today society seems as though they have started by allowing gay marriages. All in all  lesbians and prostitutes have been a topic spoken my many for a many years, and can be a topic discussed in the years to come.
        

Sex and the Single girl

This reading was very intriguing and hilarious. It seems as though, that many things that were mentioned were quite true. I can actually agree with them. In the reading “Sex and the Single Girl” it describes the life of being single and the life of being married. During the time period of the 1950’s females were supposed to be married at least during their 20’s if not, it would be difficult to find a man. The author of this reading actually proved that theory wrong by getting married at the age of thirty-seven. Being married in your 20’s was the norm during that time period, which many women found difficult to accomplish.

      Women believed that as you get older your looks start to diminish and you are not as lively as you once was in your 20’s, so they wanted to get married early.  Finding a husband is all they worried about. The pressures that a single woman had, was a bit ridiculous. Why did they have to be married at a certain time? I believe that finding the right person to marry takes time and patients. It was said that
         “She may not be psychologically ready for marriage; there is no available husband for every girl at the time she wants one; and her years as a single woman can be too rewarding to rush out of.” (p.4)
         This I believe is very true. There are certain things that you have to have before getting married. I may not be married, but in my opinion I feel like you have to have the mindset of being ready to be committed to one person, and as mentioned before know that that the person you want to marry is the right one for you. You definitely do not need to rush into anything. Yes it is true that as you get older and you are not married it is like you feel the need to rush because you do not want to be forty and alone, but maybe it is not their time. They do say everything happens for a reason. For some people being single was not a problem.
         Being single during this time period may have seemed bad, but according to the reading being single seem to have its advantages and disadvantages. Majority of the reading seem to be focused on the advantages of being single. Even though the author was married she felt as though being single was not a big of a problem as many others would think. Single woman were free to do as she pleased. She worked hard, spent money on herself, had a lot of time, was not tied down to one person, and had this particular attitude. They were even wanted by single and married men. To the married men ,single girls were called the “The Girl”. Single females were attractive because they were not married.
          As mentioned before i do agree  with what she said about single women, same can go for single men. At a point in your life being single may not seem like a bad thing, but as you get older it will be a bit lonely. Then and there you will want to have that special someone to come home to. This is something many may dream about, but does not mean you have to rush into it. The right person will come at the right time. Everybody need somebody, in my opinion you can not live without them. Many may say you can, but it will probably be a lonely life. There is nothing wrong with being single, but there is nothing wrong in being married when you feel that you are ready to get married and have kids.

“Early Rebels: The Gray Flannel Dissidents” and and “The Beat Rebellion: Beyond Work and Marriage.”

I find it interesting that many people may feel that women are the only gender that has personal issues, during the 1950s. I also find it intriguing on how each gender can blame the other for their lack of happiness. The “Early Rebels: The Gray Flannel Dissidents” actually reminds me of a previous reading called “The feminine Mystique” which was basically about women and how they felt they lacked a sense of who they were. In The Early Rebels, it was more on men and how they felt the same as the women in the previous reading just mentioned. It seemed that both genders are basically trying to live a life that society wants them to live.

In the reading, the men were pressured into getting married and having kids, denying what they truly wanted to do. These men not only had to get married, and have kids but they also had to have the nice house, white collar jobs and etc. It actually seems like a lot to handle, but this is what society wanted. This was the norm around this period. Honestly, in my opinion it is not that much of a difference as to what society portray in this time period. I mean being successful and living the American dream is what is portrayed in our society. At the end of the day, honestly it is how you live your life and how comfortable you are. These men had emptiness, realizing that they put all their dreams aside to go by the concept of conformity. With this concept of conformity, men had all these responsibilities of fatherhood and marriage that it permitted them not to fulfill their dreams. In my opinion I believe that even though society wanted them to live a certain way, they also had the power to do what makes them happy. Everyone has a dream, a dream that they may have dreamt about for years, and should be able to fulfill them. There is no harm in doing what completes you, just as in the reading of the “Feminine Mystique”.

This is a nice Segway into the reading “The Beat Rebellion: Beyond Work and Marriage.” Since society wanted them to live a certain life such as marriage and kids. There were people that went against all the concepts of conformity. There were the Beats, beatniks, and playboys.  The Beats “were against virtually every aspect of current American society: Mom, Dad, Politics, Marriage, The savings bank, organized religions…”  They all were different in their own ways, but what they all had in common was “their rejection of the pact that the family wage system rested on.” I said that this was a nice segway because these groups actually took a stand to what society wanted them to do, and did what they dreamed of. In my opinion it is not the best way to go about it, because I believe you can have both. You can have your family and job and also be happy. They did not take on any responsibilities which honestly made them look bad. They went against norms, they believed that getting married and etc , was an enslavement, and that women would take over. Overall it was brave of them to go against these norms. Many people may have looked down upon them, because of their lack of responsibility, but at the same time honestly I feel like at some point in time they would have to take on responsibility not giving up their dreams it is best of both worlds. Many people may not see that, and it may be difficult but it is not impossible.