The 1950's, Part One

Ah, the 1950's. A time of innocence. Romance. Sweethearts in black and white photos. Homosexual repression and sexism. Let me explain: I unearthed four public service announcement videos dating from the 1950's, two on puberty and two on sexual predators, and I was shocked at what I found. Today I will be covering the first two: As Boys Grow and Molly Grows Up.

First off, in the male puberty video, "As Boys Grow", the boys got a delightful discussion on both male and female anatomical structures from their happy go lucky gym coach and his misshapen penis diagram. The explanation of the changes their bodies go through was comprehensive and open. It even seemed to reassure Steven, a tall boy who sits in the back of the classroom and asks questions that made it seem like he had gotten an unwanted erection far too many times for his liking. The boys even learned how babies were made through the usage of his awkward genital diagrams. On the whole, I felt as though this video was quite progressive, and I was hoping the same for the video that the girls were supposed to watch.

I was wrong. From the way that "Molly Grows Up" was portrayed, getting one's period was the most complex thing ever. Whereas the boys got a ten second discussion on menstruation, just so they would know the devil they were up against when they got married, the girls got a whole fifteen minutes on how it works and lists of what one could and couldn't do when on their period. Examples:

Horseback Riding

Cold Showers

Swimming

Strenuous Exercising

Hot Showers

Square Dancing

Running

What's more, these girls were given no information on male anatomy or sex at all. They didn't even say the word sperm. I imagined a girl on her wedding night who had never had any information other than this video:

"Well honey, I suppose it's time for bed. Just think, we can share a bed now that we're married!"

"Yes. . .yes we can. In more ways than one, Natalie."

"What do you mean, Sam?"

"We have to create a child now."

"Oh, ok, Sam. I would love to. But why are you taking off your pants? What. . .what on earth is that?!"

I could only assume that they did that on purpose, as some way to not make women expect too much out of sex. But to not even mention it? It seemed like an instant way to create teenage pregnancies and misconceptions about sexually transmitted diseases and sex in general. And according to http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/05/1/gr050107.html ,by the late 1950's, the teen pregnancy rate was over twice as much as it was in 2000. I imagined that by 1956, thousands of sweaty teenagers were in the back of pickup trucks all over the nation, feeling as invincible as teenagers do today, because, hey, who ever said no to this marvelous discovery, something of which one of two sweaty teenagers may have even believed no one on earth had ever known before that night?

One last funny note on that data: I noticed there was a correlation graph to how many of those teenagers were married when they got pregnant, and quite predictably, most of the teenagers in the 50's were said to be married when they had their children. I couldn't help but think of the grooms at the altar, watching their slightly pale, dizzy looking brides make their way down the aisle. I imagined these grooms saying "I do" with exuberance as they lifted their brides off their feet, kissed them, and whispered in their ears,

"No one will ever know."