I Bought A 1966 Ladies Magazine And The Cashier Warned Me It’s Sexist

It’s easy to look at a 50 year old magazine and laugh at how sexist it is. We think we aren’t like that anymore. But we are.

I was out shopping when I spied a little antique shop I’d never noticed. Peeking in the window, I saw a magazine rack. In I went.

There, on the rack, was a Ladies Home Journal from 1966.

A veritable goldmine for someone who happens to run a history of women publication. So I grabbed it and headed for the cashier.

The cashier was an older woman. Short grey hair and wire rimmed glasses on a chain. She looked at the magazine and sighed. Then she peered at me over the top of her bifocals and said she’s read that magazine from cover to cover and she’s pretty sure I won’t like it.

She said it’s pretty sexist.

Good grief, the ads were ridiculous…

The magazine is packed with ads. Like this one for “naked” makeup. lol.

The ads are pretty much what you’d expect from 1966.

A Lipton Chicken Noodle soup ad shows a little girl with tears on her cheeks. The copy says “Sure, she played ball with the boys in her good party dress, but you should make her Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup anyway.”

There’s several ads for a breakfast replacement shakes that assure you they have “as much protein as bacon and eggs, but less calories!”

Plus, cough syrup ads that say “for when Dad brings germs home from the office” and a couple of ads for new pantyhose by DuPont that fit your legs the way makeup fits your face. lol.

The fashion pages are kind of hilarious…

Sorry about the emojis, I couldn’t help myself.

Inspired by Brigitte Bardot’s wardrobe in the movie Viva Maria so you, too, can look like the screen goddess. A second section features “modern” dresses that look like the fashions in the Austin Powers movies.

I am a washer. I am a dryer. lol

In case you thought sponsored content was an internet thing…

The magazine has two pieces that pretend to be articles but are really sponsored content.

There’s a “winter skin care” piece by a Mrs. Reynolds whose sincere advice is to use Oil of Olay because it’s the “only” product with “special isotonic properties” to protect your skin from the ravages of winter.

Plus, a piece introducing home washers and dryers because in 1966, those weren’t in every home yet. Can you even imagine?

Can we talk about marriage in 1966?

Apparently, a new Elizabeth Taylor movie hit the big screen, and the writer tasked with critiquing the movie had her face in a knot about it.

She starts by saying the movie is going to “upset” a great many women, and goes on to say she doesn’t understand why Elizabeth Taylor, who she calls the “sex goddess of the world” would even accept the part.

The main character in the movie is a “disagreeable” 52 year old woman in a bad marriage. She doesn’t get why Liz Taylor would play that role.

Then she explains why SHE is uniquely qualified to critique the movie.

TLDR: She’s written a column called “Can this marriage be saved” for 15 years. She’s talked to “drunkards,” gamblers, cheaters, impotent men and “frigid” woman and men who beat their wives and helped them kiss and make up.

I can’t wrap my head around thinking “husbands who beat their wives” belongs in the same paragraph as “kiss and make up.” Then again, women weren’t allowed to have a bank account without her husband’s permission, so what options did she really have besides kiss and makeup?

The ugliest part of the magazine…

I laughed when the cashier said the magazine was sexist. It was dated, for sure. But the part that hit me was the court of public opinion. Otherwise known as, letters to the editor…

Grow up and make HIM your focus, honey…

Apparently Mrs. Eugene Wilson thinks “maturity” means realizing a man will have that “light in his eye” for his wife if she shares his interests and makes him “her life.” Of course, if that “light” in his eyes results in kids, don’t pay too much attention to them or he’ll lose interest again. Also? Be sure to erase your own name. Just put Mrs. in front of his name. You don’t exist anymore. It’s all about him now. Christ.

Run, hubby, run!

Oh dear, a woman was bored in 1966 so she had another baby. Yes, the solution is definitely for the husband to pack his bags and run off to Tahiti. Before he does, hope he has the foresight to give her permission to have a job and a bank account. Because married women couldn’t have bank accounts without permission. And having kids didn’t help her get a job either. She might have to take time off when they’re sick.

Fill that woman’s stocking with birth control pills!

The month before, LHJ ran a story about single moms who can’t afford gifts at Christmas and told readers how to help. One reader wrote to say she didn’t realize there are kids Santa “forgot” and thanked the editors. But this one? Hoo boy. We should definitely shame mothers who live in poverty for needing “doles” (social assistance) and give her some birth control. Don’t bother asking where the dad is or why a single mother in 1966 can’t afford to buy her kids a Christmas present. Wow.

This is the world your mom or her mom grew up in.

It’s easy to look at 50 year old magazines and laugh at how sexist they were.

We think we’re not like that anymore, but we are.

More than you think.

We still blame women for too much. If a woman gets raped, we ask what she was wearing and why she was there. If a woman is battered, we ask why she’s attracted to abusive men instead of asking why men batter.

A woman is raped every 2 minutes in America.

Teenage girls still look at each other as competition for boyfriends, and mommies still tell their 6 year old daughters that if a cute little boy at school hits or pushes her at recess, it’s probably because he likes her.

We blame single moms for their financial struggles despite that women still don’t get paid the same as men and 70% of single mothers do not receive any child support.

We ban abortion and tell women if they don’t want to get pregnant, close your damn legs or take the pill — as if they get pregnant alone.

Sexist thinking is only “old” if you look at the calendar.

But generationally? Not so much.

If your mom didn’t grow up with this kind of thinking — then her mom did. We are one or two generations removed from the content in this magazine.

I think that’s worth thinking about.

“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.” ― Margaret Atwood