25 Things You Wouldn’t Believe Your Eyes That Were Actually Scandalous A Hundred Years Ago (5 of 5)

Smoking bans

Up until the early 1960s, in fact, you could smoke anywhere you wanted to! Yes, that’s right. There were no ‘no smoking’ zones as yet. One could smoke in a movie theater, a restaurant, or heck, even in a hospital! The only place people found smoking to be irritating was the church, elevators and classrooms. So, if you actually told a 1917 guy about the future, where one cannot smoke in bars and a zombie apocalypse, chances are he will believe the latter to be truer!

Women having tattoos

Around a hundred years ago, if you had a tattoo on your body, you were most likely to be a criminal or a shady person. It was associated mainly with the sailors, prostitutes and criminals. So, unless you worked for a circus or at a brothel, chances are nobody would accept women having tattoos on their bodies. Well, this perception no longer holds true and every one has a tattoo now. In fact, according to a recent survey, there are more women having tattoos than men!

Soda

Not because of any health risks such as heart diseases or diabetes associated with drinking soda, but because there was a perception that women could convert into harlots if they consumed soda! Yes, exactly this was the line of reasoning given by the US Food and Drug Department, when they seized fifty barrels of Coca-Cola in the year 1911. According the authorities, it would turn the ladies into ‘wild nocturnal freaks’, and make them violate college rules and also partake ‘immoral activities’! Thanks to the advance in science, we know soda isn’t exactly a health drink, but due to vastly different reasons.

Dancing

The Washington Post reported in the year 1926 how a young girl of 17 years old died due to dancing. Yes, you read that right! According to her family doctor, the shear stress on the body due to the moving of hands and legs in all directions made her die, and that women should not dance because of that. Well, we haven’t heard of any other case of a woman who died while twerking, have we?

Having a five-figure salary that included health benefits

In the year 1915, the average annual salary of an American was $617, which when adjusted for inflation comes at $16,107 a year. However, expecting your job to have the health benefits included wasn’t a thing until the 1940s, when the IRS actually began allowing tax relief for employer-based healthcare. So, if one would have asked his would-be boss if the job came with dental care, he would have rolled on the floor laughing!