Betsy Israel - Bachelor Girl

New York in Slices (Foster), 65

Nightingale, Florence, 25, 26, 270

calling of, 35, 41, 43

life of, 40–44, 47–48

marriage as viewed by, 25, 42

marriage proposals rejected by, 31–32 1950s, 6, 179, 181–206, 233, 237, 254

Barbizon hotel in, 194–96

Beat generation in, 204–6

beauty advertising in, 191–93

birthrate in, 184, 188

breasts emphasized in, 192

college education in, 185, 188, 190

competitors of wives in, 189–90

conduct guides in, 200–202

European travel in, 186

films of, 186, 193, 197–200

hair dye in, 191–92

husband-hunting techniques in, 190–93

ideal attributes in, 191

lifestyle of, 182–83

marriage as norm in, 183–86, 187, 188, 189–96, 206, 209, 252

marriage rate in, 184

moving to cities in, 186–90, 200–206

relocating surplus women in, 188–89

sex in, 188, 198–204

sexual double standard in, 199–200

television in, 173, 183, 196–99

“togetherness” in, 186, 209, 220, 252 1960s, 208–32

adoptions in, 235

alarmed reactions in, 213

anonymity in, 220

autonomous girl in, 211–14

available careers in, 214, 215, 217–19, 221, 229

films in, 209

living arrangements in, 208–9, 212, 214, 220, 221, 223–24, 225

moving to cities in, 215–17, 220

the Pill in, 209–11

rate of change in, 232

reportage in, 218 n, 219, 221, 225–27

sex in, 210–13, 222–23

single girl murders in, 227–31, 240–41

single parents in, 222, 223, 225

singles industry in, 220–21

singles scene in, 219–22

spinsters eulogized in, 214–15

television in, 218, 226–27

1970s, 229–41, 256

changing attitudes in, 232–37

dangers in, 229–31, 240–41

drug addiction in, 241

films in, 230–32

financial inequities in, 239

lifestyles in, 234–35

psychological problems in, 239–40

public mudslinging in, 237–39

reportage in, 236–37

sardonic humor in, 231

sex in, 231–32

shopping bag ladies in, 241

shortage of desirable men in, 237–38

single parents in, 235

singles scene in, 240

television in, 233–34

women’s movement in, 208, 233, 234, 236, 251

1980s and 1990s, 237, 247–56

baby brides in, 251–56, 258

biological clock in, 247, 250–51

depression in, 250

films in, 249

housework in, 254

incompetence with children in, 249–50

safety sought in, 255, 258

sex in, 250

shortage of desirable men in, 250

television in, 248–49

weddings in, 253, 254, 255

Nixon, Pat, 236

Notes on Nursing (Nightingale), 47

Novak, Kim, 197, 203

Odd Women, The (Gissing), 48–50

office workers, 9, 19, 97–104, 130, 165, 214

advice guides for, 99–100

business schools for, 101–2

in Depression era, 152, 164

free-time activities of, 101–2, 103–4

in 1960s, 214, 215, 219

number of, 103

strategies of, 104

as suspected socialists, 100–101

working conditions of, 98

O’Harro, Mike, 220

old maids, 16–18, 21, 22, 25, 53, 212, 214

bad teeth of, 17, 18, 139

“One Old Maid” (Harland), 51–52

Only a Shopgirl (Sterling), 94

On the Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Wollstonecraft), 38

Oregon Land Donation Act, 22 n

“out work,” 18, 57

Pabst, Charles, 136

Parent, Gail, 231

Parkhurst, Genevieve, 160

Parsons, Talcott, 186 n

Pauline religious order, 34–35

Peiss, Kathy, 70

Penny, Virginia, 61

penny press, 56, 62–66

personal-advice columns in, 68–69

urban sketch in, 63–64

Persuasion (Austen), 24

Pickford, Mary, 98

Pill, the, 209–11

Playboy, 192, 193, 243–44

Polykoff, Shirley, 191–92

Pope, Alexander, 17

Porter, Sylvia, 213–14

postwar period, 169–79

assertive women in, 171, 185

bobby-soxers in, 178

college class of 1934 in, 178–79

divorce rate in, 170, 175–76

divorcée paranoia in, 176–77

films in, 177–78, 179

GI Bill in, 186

majority gender in, 171–72

man shortage in, 171, 172, 176, 183

workforce in, 169–70

see also neurotic husband hunters

Power, Susan C., 69

Private Secretary, 197

prostitutes, prostitution, 31, 32, 105, 107, 130, 168, 204

earnings of, 77

of immigrant working girls, 58, 59, 74, 75–78, 83, 94

as vagrancy (loitering), 76, 106

white slavery and, 122–24

purchase brides, 20

Quaaludes, 241

Quinn, Roseanne, 230

“race suicide,” 33, 109–10, 111, 116, 142

rackets, 88–89, 92, 93, 96, 103, 107, 120, 124

radio soap operas, 178

Rainy Day Club, 90

rape, 70–71, 155, 241

Rear Window, 193

Reisman, David, 179

Rhys, Jean, 164

Richardson, Dorothy, 55, 78–83, 84, 194

Roberts, Julia, 40

Robinson, Grace, 154

Robinson, Solon, 66

Robles, Richard, 227–28

Roiphe, Katie, 255–56

Roosevelt, Eleanor, 36, 40, 154, 155, 159

Roosevelt, Theodore, 33, 109, 116

Rosenteur, Phyllis, 211

Rosie the Riveter, 166, 167

rubbering, 88, 91

Rules, The (Fein and Schneider), 258–59

Sagan, Françoise, 185–86

Salem witch trials, 17, 21

Salinger, J. D., 198

Sands, Alma, 71–72

Sanger, Margaret, 115

Sarmiento, Domingo, 29

Saunders, Florence Wenderoth, 99–100, 102–3

Sawyer, Lanah, 70–71

Sayers, Dorothy L., 17

Scharf, Lois, 160

Scudder, Vida, 26

Seberg, Jean, 186

Sedgwick, Catherine M., 27

settlement houses, 35–37, 143

Seventh Heaven (Hoffman), 176

Sex and the City, 1, 262–63

Sex and the Single Girl (Brown), 212

sexology, 111, 117–18, 141–45, 156

frigidity in, 142, 144, 145, 172, 198

lesbianism in, 143–44, 145

typology of, 142–43

Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York (Parent), 231

shop girls, shoppies, 9, 84–98, 103, 127, 128, 232

“blue Mondays” of, 91

clothing of, 85–86, 89–91

controlled facial expressions of, 86, 94–95

critics of, 90–91

dances attended by, 88–89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96

dress reform desired by, 90–91

education of, 97

“fairy days” of, 92, 94

in films, 97

free-time activities of, 88–89, 95–96

living quarters of, 89, 105

male sales clerks vs., 86

nascent feminism of, 93

newsletters of, 92–93

salaries of, 86

store social clubs formed by, 92, 94

teaching profession entered by, 97

“treating” of, 88, 94

upper-class women vs., 93–94

working conditions of, 85–88, 91, 92, 94–95

youth of, 91–92

shopping bag ladies, 241

Showalter, Elaine, 39

Show Boat, 23 n

single blessedness, 25–48, 53, 114

exemplars of, 40–48

marriage proposals rejected in, 26, 31–32

public taunts endured in, 32–33

special friends in, 28–30

see also communal living

single girl murders, 227–31, 240–41

“Singleness of Heart” (Katz), 16

single parents, 222, 223, 235

singles bars, 222, 229

singles industry, 220–21

singles scene, 219–22, 240

Single Woman, The (Rosenteur), 211

siren, 137–38

Sister Carrie (Dreiser), 8, 59

slacker spinsters, 256–59

“slumming,” 64, 73, 93–94

Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll, 30, 36