The Social and Political Landscape of the 40s-60s
The 40s can be characterized by a sense of fear and empowerment. The United States were just recovering from the Great Depression when war broke out in Europe and attacks were made on American soil at Pearl Harbor. Men were shipped off to war and the women took up their roles and headed to the factories to support themselves and their families. During this time of empowerment for women, men were off fighting, pinup images consoling them and giving them the strength and encouragement to fight and remember that someone was waiting at home for them.
These images of risqué independent women would not become a reality, as they could have been when women came home from the factories and lead domestic lives following the end of WWII. Marriage rates skyrocketed, resulting in what we now call the Baby Boom. Families moved to the suburbs, a new way of living, into pre-fab homes with white picket fences. The Nuclear Family was born. Gender roles were traditional and clearly defined, with the feminism of the 20s-40s sorely lacking. The 1950s were a socially conservative time, due mostly in part to the Red Scare of McCarthyism and the war on Communism. Even the Hollywood motion picture industry was under suspicion, leading to many destroyed careers. By 1950, 90 percent of Americans had a television, and ever more had a radio. The television brought popular culture to the American life, with shows like I Love Lucy and The Mike Wallace Interview. TV shows depicted an acceptable way of like for Americans, a cookie cutter life, with propaganda thrown in the mix. Historians now say that the Red Scare was just Cold War induced paranoia, but it shaped what America was during this time.
It’s worth noting, that during this time of fierce conservatism, that the pinup reared her head and inspired Playboy magazine’s birth. Crackdown’s during the 30s nearly eradiated burlesque, but by the 1950s burlesque was all the rage again, with mainstream magazines writing about shows taking place in Las Vegas and Paris. The 1950s witnessed the birth of BDSM in America, with the likes of Bettie Page leading the scene. There were even jokes made on using bondage and spanking to discipline housewives. It’s odd to think that this time of such conservative thought and action would lead to the blossoming of something so conflicting and hypocritical.
By the end of the 1960s, we saw a shift from this complicity to protests, riots and violence. The Vietnam War was raging in Asia, while in the US, ethnic minorities, women, and gay rights activists were raging. There was social and political unrest. Women growing weary of the life of a homemaker rebelled, seeking out feminism. We saw the rise of the Black Panther and their march for equal rights at the hands of Malcolm X. There was even the birth of the flower child and the concept of “free love”, and sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It was a turbulent time, but a lot came from it, it was a turning point in American history leading to our current culture.