Pop goes the Pin Up

This reading “Pop goes the Pin ups” is very intriguing yet entertaining. Many of the reading we have encountered have taught us about the roles of male and female. Males having to be the breadwinner, having family going to war etc. while females were to be housewife’s, taking care of children, during house work and barely having any careers. (this was the ideal role during the 1950’s) in this selection the role of  el women changed. Leaving a form of confusion

            In the reading it describes the women’s role during and after the war, also describing the pin up girls. During the war since the men were shipped out to fight there were no one to take care of the jobs back home. Leaving women with responsibilities to basically take on the patriotic role and work for the nation. I find this interesting because women during this time basically stayed at home, but because of the war it gave them the opportunity to do something and be known as something other than a mere housewife. After the war when the men came back home, women were expected to return to their homes. They were to be the “housewife”. All of this gave rise to how women were viewed after the war. They went back to doing what they have been known to do. It states that, this role “the feminine mystique” demanded the postwar woman to be “young and frivolous, almost childlike; fluffy and feminine, passive; gaily content in a world of bedroom and kitchen, sex, babies and homes.”(pg 240)

            As the reading continues it goes into details of the pin-up girls. Hugh Hefner had a major part in this, giving his opinion of the pin-ups. Many females had a problem with the pin-up girls in magazines as Hefner would say the magazine is not for family but for the eyes of men. Popular culture has seen these women as seductive, confident and sexually aggressive females. This was seen as the new idealized women during the post war.  These girls had physical beauty, intelligence and sexual awareness. The pin ups  is something that was looked at by many men, not to say that even some women were for the pin-ups despite the negative comments issued to the magazine. This including play boy is quite popular during this time period. Playboy is also popular now. Nothing has really changed