What now makes you uncomfortable that didn't at the time

[drinkingwineoutofamug]

As a teenager I like listening to a certain rock band.
Just found their album on iTunes, downloaded and listened.
I was shocked. One of the songs - sung by grown men - ' she's a 13 yr tease , with bleach blonde hair. Let me eat your cookies , let me see your cookies '
Sat in the bath gob smacked. When I was 15 , this never made me question.

Has anyone else come across something that as a younger person it never crossed your mind but now it's a wtf moment

@Deadringer

Is the gym knickers and being watched in the showers a British thing? I went to school in the 70s/80s in Ireland and neither of those were a thing. Our school didn't have any student/teacher relationships either as far as i know, though i have heard of them since in other schools. I think the reason so much of this shit was seen as acceptable was because women and girls had so little value, a female should always be grateful for a man's attention, even if he was older, her teacher, or whatever.

In many other countries, and I don't just mean Scandinavia/Germany where nudity is much more normal, communal showers wouldn't cause such a fuss anyway. I think the gym knickers were before my time. (I did primary in the 80s and secondary in th 90s). We did have a gym skirt in secondary, which I hated, but I would have felt exactly the same about shorts as they gave just as little coverage. We were eventually allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms in the winter.

@Billandben444

Went to a convent school in the 50s. We donated 6d every week towards buying a black baby that supposedly lived in their mission somewhere in Africa and when our card was full (5 shillings I think), we were given a picture of our baby and got to name him/her. I think the money really went on gin. What a truly dreadful enterprise and we never questioned it 😱

They were still doing it in the 60/70s. Half of Africa should be called, Teresa, Mary, James and John etc. Teachers Christmas doo fund methinks.

Nope can't get to het up about anything in the past. Some things make me cringe but not "uncomfortable" because I see them within the time they happened or were made. I find it a much better thing to discuss why these things are no longer tolerated rather than erase them. I do feel for want of a better phrase the "cancel culture" can also cancel debate and reason. If we do not see these things for what they are we may be deemed to repeat intolerances , albeit in another guise. We must be able to discuss and debate IMO

@alliejay81

Slightly different but I'm always shocked "smack my b£&ch up" still gets played. No-one ever bats an eyelid at it and I've never understood why.

Actually it just portraits the British Laddette. but some can’t take the truth.

"What proportion of the Spice Girls biggest fans do you suppose were over 16? They certainly never came across as targeted at a more mature and sophisticated audience to me."

They were quite clearly chosen to appeal to men as well as young girls. There was one for each 'type', the blonde, brunette, sporty, red-head, etc.

Does anyone else remember their parents being OUTRAGED by the song I Wanna Sex You Up in the 90s?

@Nishky have you seen the feminist parody of Blurred Lines? I never saw the 'original' but I can guess the content.

Children don't listen to lyrics in songs and question them, and 2 become 1 is so subtle I didn't realise myself until I was in my 20s. I just thought it was about love...

I think the underage girls thing was part of the point in Almost Famous at some point Kate Hudson is "sold" for beer, its based on Cameron Crowe's real life experiences touring with bands in the 70s. It's meant to be an insight.

[quote LovelyIssues]@AuntMasha same [/quote]
Sorry to hear that, LovelyIssues. x

@Khle34

A bloke in his early 20's wanting to have sex with me despite knowing my then age. I was 12 coming up 13.

I was flattered at the time because he was very handsome, I thought he must see me as quite grown up and mature for my age.

I saw the dirty bastard on Facebook the other day (I'm 27) and it all came back to me. Insidious creep.

Message him and out him - you def wont be the only one and got off lightly! Xxx

Just got a cartoon annual, like reading stories / cartoons from the WW2... a lot of dodgy things, nudes, misogyny - - 1941.
But it's the same/worse now as much as 60s-70s. .... naked attraction?!?
even gogglebox which I like had full frontal nudity 'artistic' portrait of the joy of sex... not to mention the amount of terrible lyrics that are rampant now.

I think the shock of seeing it in older shows is people tend to remember the good bits but when you look back you focus on the bad..

The fact that when I started work i was not allowed to wear trousers- only skirts

I had a job at Debenhams when I was a student. The application form asked the date of our last period! I just obligingly filled it in. I’d go spare now. There’s no reason to ask that other than to try and weed out women you think might be pregnant!

@Willowandrose

Flake chocolate tv advert. Seeing teenage girl musicians / singers being sexual / wearing their underwear in videos and promos ads etc.

I think the Flake one went over my head at the time.

Definitely beauty pageants. Horrible for kids so young.

"Apparently at the time the novel was written this was an acceptable wy of ridding yourself of a woman/raising a bit of cash."

It's not portrayed as acceptable in the novel though. It's a major sin that catches up with him in the end.

Have I missed something that 2 become 1 is about sex ... and?? Little mix lyrics anyone? If we are gonna get all clutched pearls about somg lyrics then probably a good 50% songs since the 60s are out

Americal romance novels of the 1970s where a teenage virgin heroine is violently raped by a good-looking hero in his 30s, he marries her under her family's pressure because that's the honourable thing to do, turns out to be a lovely bloke under the rough exterior and they live happily ever after. The reader cheers at how lucky the heroine turned out to be.

The worst thing is that (according to an very enlightening article about this type of literature that I've read recently), at that time rape was the only socially acceptable
way to portray pre-marital sex in that context. If an unmarried heroine actually wanted sex with the hot hero, the intended audience - housewives - would not be able to identify with her and root for her, as they'd perceive her as a despicable loose woman. Or at least that's what publishers thought. Consensual premarital sex was reserved for female villains.

So hey, let's have rape, the acceptable option, instead. Tells you all you need to know how messed up it all was back then.

I went to a girl's school that had a policy of only recruiting female teachers where possible, we had few problems, no issues with PE knickers etc. If you didn't have the kit you didn't participate. We had cubicles to change for sport /swimming. Actually reading all this I'm so glad I went there.

@RedcurrantPuff

My son goes to a special school,but I have heard some horror stories of how some children with SEN are treated in some mainstream schools now

My own son has additional support needs and agree the system leaves a lot to be desired but it doesn’t seem as bad as it was in my day. There were kids in my year who now thinking back most likely had ASD and they were just totally ignored and left to rot.

Looking back there was a genuinely lovely lad who was ALWAYS in trouble for eccentric stunts. One was so bizarre yet hilarious the teacher was clutching his sides.

I feel bad looking back because he was "the naughty boy" his whole school career and he was bright and very clearly ADHD now.

@RedStef1983

How they dress and make up little kids in pageants has never sat well with me.

Parodied very well in Little Miss Sunshine.

@MermaidDreams83

Bras...

Amen to that!

(Except for sports)

@LadyCatLover2

I'll probably be flamed for this... but Monica and Richard in Friends.

Yes, she was in her mid 20s, but he was her dad's best friend and had known her since she was born. That's just... not ok

It wasn't abusive though, was it? And the weirdness of it was acknowledged.