AIBU to wish I could be a 50s style housewife?!

[bigchanges]

Might just be that the past few shifts at work have been awful (think violent) and that I am stuck because the hours fit round my life and there are few jobs here.

BUT! I wish I could be a full on 50s, twee, stepford style housewife!

Pretty apron, spending my days baking and cleaning, wearing pretty dresses and pearls. No more stressful decisions. No more getting punched in the face at work. Gardening and embroidery all the way.

What's this obsession with all 1950's women having been on tranquillisers? I'm sure some must have been happy enough?

I grew up in the 50s. It really was hard work for most house wives. Not washing machines, few fridges, few phones, rubbish vacuum cleaners, if you were lucky enough to have one, if not it was lugging the carpets into the garden and beating them by hand on the line.

Wash day was precisely that - a whole day. Whites boiled in a gas boiler then rinsed in the sink, after dolly blue and starch. Then put through the hand mangle. Onto the line, which frequently broke as they didn’t have steel cores as they do not. If that happened, you had to start again

No convenience food, everything cooked from scratch, always with a hot pudding.

Being given ‘housekeeping’ money which had a to last the week.

It wasn’t easy, believe me!

Just watch 'Back In Time For Tea'. It was shit. I have no idea why so many hold it up as some kind of fucking Golden Era. My dad's in his 80s and even he says he's glad time's moved on.

oooh I wish I was Olivia Walton. I have a crush on John Walton too!

It it wasn’t the Middle Ages! Contraception was there, if only for married women. My mother had a cap.

I can’t think of anyone who might have been taking tranquillisers back to hen.

C'mon guys, give the OP a break here. She's had a really bad day at work. How many of you face physical violence on a daily basis for NMW? She's just daydreaming.

I'm guessing you work in mental health OP? If so, I can completely see why you feel like this. I've got a friend who is a mental health nurse and regularly gets punched, kicked or spat on.

Yes it was shit. Do you want to queue for hours because rationing was still in force in the early fifties. Then carry everything home by hand and spend ages eking out the food to make a grim horrible meal. No electric gadgets or fridges but if you were lucky a gas or electric cooker. No bathroom in the house and only a cold water tap in the kitchen sink. If you were lucky you would have a water heater fitted over the sink.

Oh yes it was the best of times.

Jeez Legally raped and punched!! Was that standard practice in a 50s marriage?
Funnily enough my late Grandpa was an absolute gem, him and my late Granny had the sweetest relationship and he'd never would have harmed her (despite it being the 50s)
What a hugely insulting post to men and women idontdowindows vile.

Are you saying rape within marriage and domestic abuse wasn't accepte and legal in the 50s then?

Just because your grandparents were lovely, as were mine, doesn't mean everyone was at the time and doesn't change the fact that abuse and rape within marriage were entirely acceptable.

I can remember having nice meals in the 50s. Most people had a gas or electric cooker (South London), a bathroom, and a geyser over the kitchen sink (no less convenient than a hot tap).

I'm not disputing the legalities but your post reads as though you are suggesting it was standard practice in the 50s!

My nan ran the house AND worked AND brought up all her kids AND had dinner on the table in time for grandad to come home.

Sounds much the same to me only without all the modern white kitchen goods and electonics to make life easier.

Just rephrase to 'Aibu to wish I was a sahm' don the pinny and go for it

They were all knocked out on Prozac and gin because of all the boredom and lack of self esteem due to not having a job or any status.

You would hate not having your own money and having to get pocket money from your husband!

Agree with @bratsandtwats OP I agree is just daydreaming after a shitty day of violence. How many jobs do you have to go back and support someone who's just punched you in the face?

I'm not disputing the legalities but your post reads as though you are suggesting it was standard practice in the 50s!

Did you grow up in the 50s? Do you have any idea what life was like for your average woman in the 50s?

No, did you?
Did I say it wasn't hard or unjust for women?
Nope, thought not

I'd pick a different fantasy op. I don't think the 1950's hw had much time to float about.

Yes Daydream, I did.

I know what it was like for your average, bog standard woman in the 50s.

And it's nothing to write home about or wish you were a part of.

Have you read The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson, OP? A wonderful picture of that era- the innocence, hopefulness, and naïveté.

Poor op, bet she's regretting coming on here for a bit of support and lighthearted chat after a shit day at work!!
Hope you're ok bigchanges

Care work is hard, op. In my humble opinion care workers are unsung heroes. Have some and from me for all you do - people like you keep society running.

YANBU OP, I hear you. You're entitled to yearn for those days and nobody has the right to denigrate or patronise you for it so just ignore.

Not every woman was off her face on tranquilisers and alcohol and even if they were, what's changed? So many do it now, they just don't look as good on it and they make up silly memes for it now...

I'm sorry you've had a shit day. You can't go back to the 1950s, none of us can, but that doesn't mean you can't wish you could.

@Idontdowindows that does depend on who your husband is though. I actually think with my husband's job and our personalities the 1950s setup would work well for us