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

Unemployment

Women working reached a crucial height by the late 60s. Even though they were making a mark and building on what would still become a huge movement, working women were still faced with a lot of stigma in their workplaces. It was still considered as a more preferable norm where single women worked, but married women were not as accepted. This was mostly because they considered a woman’s primary duty being that of housekeeper, homemaker. In the year 1967, only 44% of American couples lived in lived in dual income households, and that is in comparison to the over 50% of married couples today. It was thought that a wife and mother who was a working woman would serve as a destabilization on the lives of their families.

Middle-class women were perhaps the most affected by the stigma, and if they chose to become working women, they had to put their careers on hold until their children had grown up. It is now easier to picture just how depressed and lacking in self-esteem those women forced to stay home must have been.

Leg Makeup

Miniskirts were all the rage in the 60s, and the rise of the hemlines meant that women were much more concerned about the state, shape and length of their legs. By the time the 60s were halfway through, the trend of leg makeup was taking shape. Makeup on legs was not really a new phenomenon. In the course of the World War II, women drew on stocking seams on their bare legs, to create the illusion they had stockings on when there was a shortage of stockings. The newer trend was; however, one of vanity, to cover up any perceived flaws that the miniskirts would expose. Women in those days would take the time to carefully apply makeup to their legs to hide and blemishes and flaws, and then put on their hosiery.

This trend is an embodiment of the confliction that surrounded women in those days. On the one hand, there were building on and fighting for a huge women’s liberation movement, but on the other, they were still concerned with the pressures to fit into society’s idealized version of a woman.

Athletic Skills

Athleticism was considered another pleasing trait in women of the 60s. This was mostly because engaging in athletic activities was viewed as the best way to maintain a good, attractive figure. Women in the 1960s were more active in sports in high schools and colleges, even though there was still bias between women’s sport and men’s sport.

Women who had athletic physiques were attractive to society’s eye, but still were not fully accepted by society. The US still had a long way to go before securing proper funding for women’s sports, and in 1987, the first female athlete appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Today, female athletes are looked at as being capable, strong role model figures, but in the 60s they were hardly taken seriously, mostly thought of as fitness enthusiasts who engaged in the activities as a hobby.