15 Strange Things Men Found Attractive 50 Years Ago (4 of 5)

Subservience

Although the 1960s brought about a lot of change in the fashion and social stream, advertisements and television shows from that era show that women were still portrayed as sexual objects and homemakers. The giant strides taken towards ensuring some level of gender equality seemed to have little or no effects, as women were still limited to certain rights men had. This limitation was most evident in the fact that an unmarried woman could be denied a credit card in the late 60s- and even married women sometimes were denied on if their husbands were not present to co-sign. Women were also banned from serving on juries in some states.

Moving to the world of education, Ivy League schools were still grossly underpopulated by women in this decade. In the 1870s, women were allowed only under special circumstances to attend the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell. Big names like Yale and Princeton only opened their doors to women in 1969, and Dartmouth, Harvard and Brown did not start accepting until the 70s. In 1981, Columbia finally offered women admission.

Sobriety

Picture the 1960s, and a lot of people would tell you that the image includes a decade-long booze-fest with unprecedented drinking. This is partially true, but it was definitely more of the standard for men to drink as much alcohol as they wished than it was accepted of women. Although the number of women moving away from the stereotyped ideal, it was still seen as unfeminine for a woman to indulge in alcohol too frequently. It was perfectly acceptable to indulge in a glass of wine with dinner, but for getting drunk- a big no.

Placing a limitation of women’s sobriety was not only a societal pressure; it was also heavily announced on the media and public announcements. While heavy drinking among men is considered a sign of virility, it is often met with disproval in the case of women and that feeling was constant right up until the end of the decade. Just think of the saying ‘Drunk as a lord’.

Smoking

Women might have been frowned at for smoking in excess, but with smoking, men considered it very attractive on a woman. Even though the link between cancer and smoking had already been established before the 60s, men and women still embraced the vice. The practice was so widespread that in 1964, there was a proclamation that “Cigarette smoking is a health hazard of sufficient importance in the United States to warrant appropriate remedial action.”

Even with these warnings and findings, smoking was still considered as a sophisticated, glamorous act. In the 1960s, the rise of the building feminist movement made tobacco companies push their market towards women, targeting them as their ideal customers by portraying smoking as one of the signs of gender equality. ‘you’ve come a long way baby!’ was the slogan of Virginia Slims which were launched in 1968, and other ads from that era portray young and attractive women smoking at their leisure, conveying the message that the pastime was elegant, refined and sexy.