Beyond Myth And Models

In both academia and general public, the1950s are often viewed as an uneventful,conservative and consensus age in sharp contrast with the turbulent age of the1960s.Postwar women were often labeled as repressive, submissive and domestic suburbanhousewives. In the groundbreaking classic The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan firstpresents “the problem has no name”, so the1950s have frequently been considered asthe embodiment of traditional family life and the synonym of “feminine mystique”.However, the “suburban housewife” image simplifies the diversity of postwarwomanhood, reducing the multidimensional realities to a narrow slot of white,middle-class womanhood in suburban areas. While some women fit the stereotype,the majority of others were furnished with abundant livelihood options. The decade of“feminine mystique” was also a decade in which the participation of women in theCivil Rights Movement can never be ignored; a decade in which married women andcolored women were much in demand in the workplace; a decade in which bad girlsand cultural rebels appeared on the historical stage with the Counter CultureMovement taking shape.The thesis attempts to juxtapose American women in the1950s between myth andreality, trying to modify the stereotypical image of American women in the1950s bypresenting other American womanhood in the1950s. The thesis argues that the1950sis neither a rosy dream immersed in nostalgic longing for a simpler, happier, old sweetdays nor an ironic story of stagnation and degradation. In effect, the1950s, whichheralds the advent of Second Wave of Feminist Movement, is also an importantchapter in American history of women’s liberation movement.