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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

50's Housewife

71 replies

WhataRacquet · 05/02/2016 11:36

I was looking up money saving tips on Pinterest and came across this the50shousewife.com/2014/06/how-to-survive-on-one-paycheck-1950s-style/

I can't believe any woman would think like this!

OP posts:
Maudd · 05/02/2016 13:28

Here you go katie

StealthPolarBear · 05/02/2016 13:30

I'm afraid not Katie. We really need a mam to explain it for us.

StealthPolarBear · 05/02/2016 13:31

Man!! A mam would be too busy buttering toast and tying ribbons.

RudeElf · 05/02/2016 13:32
Grin
Original poster
WhataRacquet · 05/02/2016 13:37

Men already have enough to worry about without having to explain stuff to women Hmm

OP posts:
IShouldBeSoLurky · 05/02/2016 13:41

I take a lot of this 50s housewife stuff with a pinch of salt. (Just a pinch, mind - you don't want to clog up your hard-working husband's arteries, do you now?)

StealthPolarBear · 05/02/2016 13:47
vesuvia · 05/02/2016 15:16

A quote from the blog linked in the OP: "He needs to budget for the groceries."

I think the blogger's version of 1950s man was very much more likely to not even be aware that things called groceries even existed. I expect he cared only that his dinner was ready on the table when he returned home each evening. How his food was budgeted for, obtained and prepared would have been too unimportant for him to care about.

Also, the blogger is ignorant of the fact that feminism existed before the 1970s.

QuietWhenReading · 05/02/2016 16:03

Both my Grandmothers were 1950s housewives.

Neither of them handed full financial control over to my Grandfathers and they most definitely didn't meekly sit by while their husbands made all the decisions either.

Grin at the thought of what my feisty Grandmothers would have thought about that!

I suspect the author of that blog has a deeply inaccurate idea of what the 1950s were actually like.

I wonder why she wants to live her life like that. I wonder why her husband does.

My own DH absolutely would not want that kind of relationship.

Lweji · 05/02/2016 16:27

My feeling from the text was that she was saying that if men want to be in control, then they should be in control of everything and provide their family with the very best. That he should pay all bills, including groceries, but then he should know what to buy, and effectively to do that he would need to do everything at home to really know what it entails. And that the wife should basically sit back and relax.
I'd be all up for that.

chunkymum1 · 05/02/2016 17:02

Like many I confess I haven't been able to read to the end of the web page but what I could stand to read makes me angry for many reasons:

  1. The fact that people might think this is how modern stay at home mums think- isn't it hard enough to get some people to take us seriously without this?
  2. The picture that she paints of men as being motivated only by animal instincts and competition (no place for modern caring men/SAHDs in her world)
  3. The patronising tone
  4. Most importantly the poor grammar (using 'reign' instead of 'rein', 'insure' instead of 'ensure' etc). Is this intentional to demonstrate how unimportant it is for we little women to worry about things like education?
itllallbefine · 05/02/2016 17:21

woman earns £100k and the man earns £15k

stumblymonkey Do you know of many women earning 100k+ who are either with or attracted to men who earn 15k ? Not counting those who may be earning 15k with the potential to earn much more - but just the ones who actually only earn 15k ?

itllallbefine · 05/02/2016 17:39

(not that the article isn't horseshit - but i think there is a wider issue of women looking for men "who can provide", which doesn't seem to be there the other way around)

Twowrongsdontmakearight · 05/02/2016 17:45

Sounds like my life! DH does the earning and financial planning. I keep house, am there more for DC, have a 'little job' and actually do most of the spending. I'm highly educated and more than capable and could look after financials but find it tedious. DH finds housework tedious but can fix a tap. So it's the split that suits us most. No cocktails and dinner on the table when he gets home though!

Each to their own.

Twowrongsdontmakearight · 05/02/2016 17:48

Actually, must confess I haven't actually read that article!!

AnyFucker · 05/02/2016 17:49

that is a "surrendered wife" not a 1950's wife

stumblymonkey · 05/02/2016 21:10

itllallbefine

Ummm....yes, me. I work in the City, DP is a personal trainer.

stumblymonkey · 05/02/2016 21:13

When I started dating I was looking for someone who earned a similar amount to me but I suddenly realised that actually I already had money. Money was in fact one of the things I didn't actually need from a man.

What I needed was someone intelligent, loyal, honest, supportive, affectionate and kind who makes me smile and doesn't make me cry...and DP has all of those things!

PalmerViolet · 05/02/2016 21:13

that is a "surrendered wife" not a 1950's wife

Great minds... I really hope she's married to a good man and not an abusive wanker.

MagicalHamSandwich · 05/02/2016 21:32

In the 50s my granny was a housewife and a mum and handled all the family money as well as all the commercials for her husband's business. That would have been because she had a head for numbers and a good education whereas he - though my grandpa is a lovely person and has all sorts of other talents - was simply not very capable at this kind of stuff.

I'd also like her to meet the uber-competitive top dog in my very male dominated workplace. Yes, he makes enough money to feed not one but two families - he's also got the aggression potential of your average newborn pet hamster and is altogether lovely and generous towards his fellow men (and to women). How exactly he managed to make it to the top in this supposedly dog eat dog world remains a complete mystery. He probably killed the competition with kindness until they literally dropped dead.

Seriously, though, if that's what she wants to do, by all means go ahead (though It seems slightly insane to want such a lifestyle). I have issues with her generalizations, though. There's a lot more projecting than actual understanding of historical or present conditions going on here.

QuietWhenReading · 05/02/2016 21:56

itllallbe I know several families in that position too.

You're not seriously suggesting that most women are only attracted to their partner's earning potential are you?

itllallbefine · 05/02/2016 22:02

I'm suggesting that one of the reasons that men are driven to earn "big bucks" is because it attracts women. The opposite is not true, so i think there is some merit in exploring this from a feminist perspective.

QuietWhenReading · 05/02/2016 22:10

Hmmm. My DH is driven to do well at his work because he's a competitive so and so, I'm pretty sure I have very little to do with it.

QueenLaBeefah · 05/02/2016 22:11

My grandma was in charge of family finances. Although she did work part time in the 1950s - she worked a couple of evenings and every Saturday when her children were small.

She was very happily married but she told me, when I was 10yrs, that I should always have my own bank account and a secret escape fund.

itllallbefine · 05/02/2016 22:22

Trophy wives are a thing Queen. Footballers, pop stars etc, basically "alpha" behaviour seems to get loads of female attention, i don't see how you can really dispute that fact. OTOH, men do not chuck their underwear at or scream hysterically at high profile females. or go out to "pull a " do they ?