What makes a woman a woman? That’s the question Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson at her Supreme Court confirmation hearing. Alabama governor Kay Ivey signed legislation that threatens doctors and nurses with up to 10 years in prison for aiding transgender young people in transitioning. Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, signed legislation that bans teachers from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity, a bill opponents call “Don’t Say Gay.”
What is this preoccupation of the Republican Party with gender issues while war, the pandemic and inflation are problems of the day? To say that this obsession is weird is not an exaggeration. However, if we examine the extraordinary changes in women’s lives, it does make more sense. For many, these cultural changes cause anger, anxiety and angst. To appreciate fully how the life experience of American women has changed, it is helpful to start by examining magazine ads in the 1950s.
Among dozens of ads accessible on the internet, one has a man spanking his wife if she does not purchase Chase and Sanborn coffee. “It’s nice to have a girl around the house” was the caption of another showing a man with his foot on the back of a woman’s head while she’s lying on a floor — a message somehow associated with Mr. Leggs Slacks. Outrageous and unimaginable today, but common in the mid-20th century. Misogyny abounded.
