Zoomable link here. The rest of the 1939 Marital Rating Scale sheets, including the ones for the husband, are here.
A sample of traits that are a mark against a wife:
“Doesn’t like children”: -5 points!
“Slow in coming to bed–delays till husband is almost asleep”
“Wears red nail polish”
“Flirts with other men at parties or in restaurants”
A sample of traits that recommend a wife:
“Has meals on time”
“Dresses for breakfast”
“Personally puts children to bed”
“Religious — sends children to church or Sunday school and goes herself”: +10 points!
Fast forward to 2019…
The bad wife:
“Is really a victim of a bad husband”
The good wife:
“Dresses her son like a girl, turns her husband into a kitchen bitch, demands cunnilingus despite HPV pussy smelling like a rotting animal carcass, is “With Her”, has a trail of mudshark baggage and a mystery meat bastard, has a sphincter tattoo, thinks men are ‘intimidated’ by nasty old skanks with resting bitch face”
—
Is there really any question that America was, culturally and psychologically, a healthier, better, SANER nation in 1939 than it is today? We trashed all that was good about America and replaced it with smartphones and a gynarchic dystopia. Are the gadgets worth the trade-off?
***
From plumpjack,
this wasn’t a very one-sided social contract. the patriarchy had rigorous expectations of men also. lets see a picture of a 1939 draft card for comparison.
I linked it. I couldn’t save the pic locally for an upload, which is why it’s not included in the post. For the record, from what I read of the husband’s marital rating scale, there wasn’t much I disagreed with. You have to keep in mind that in a culture in which the large majority of wives are deferential to husbands and faithful to the end, there really isn’t much need for dread-style “married man game”, and so the cultural norms of the time reflect the acceptance and expectation of chivalrous husbands who don’t flirt with other women. As always, it takes two to tango.
[crypto-donation-box]
