• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

J,lN'!VERsrry Of trhWAU ua~ DANGEROUSLY SENSUAL: THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION, FEMINISM, AND GRRL POWER IN POSTWAR AMERICA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE DIVISION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWArI IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY DECEMBER 2003 By Bonnie L. Traymore Dissertation Committee: Margot Henriksen, Chairperson Jerry Bentley Robert McGlone Richard Rapson Susan Schultz TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .iv ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER ONE The Dangerously Sensual Woman: Sex, Power, and Compromise in Postwar America 1 INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE Cold War, Hot Love, and the Sexual Sell: The Shaping of American Womanhood in Prefeminist America, 1955-1965 ...15 CHAPTER TWO New Frontiers and Flexible Responses: Sex, Domesticity, and the Shattered Mystique 38 CHAPTER THREE Deconstructing Whore-Madonna: Singles, Sex, and the Barbie Revolution ....................... 91 INTRODUCTION TO PART TWO The Dangerously Sensual Compromise: The Sexual Revolution, Women's Liberation, and Antifeminism, 1966-1980 .. 134 CHAPTER FOUR Flying High in the Age of Aquarius: Radical Feminism, Free Love, and the Sexual Revolution 149 CHAPTER FIVE From Feminist to Femme Fatale: Backlash, Compromise, and the Sexual Save. .................. .213 EPILOGUE Poptarts, Whore-Madonnas, and Grr! Power: The Legacy of Liberation . .................. .267 BIBLIOGRAPHY. .................................. .290 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In large measure, this dissertation has been a cathartic experience, allowing me to relive a time period which shaped my contemporary conception of what it means to be a woman in America. Like most Americans mentioned in this dissertation, I lived through a tumultuous time when the values and mores of American society changed radically. We now live in a world that is vastly different from and markedly more tolerant than the America of mid-century, and for that I am grateful. I am indebted to the many women and men of the postwar era who worked to advance the cause of civil rights and civil liberties, thus providing Americans today with an array of choices that were not available to them fifty years ago. Many individuals, both professors and students, helped to bring focus to my research and subsequently impacted this dissertation. I am especially indebted to Margot Henriksen not only for her expert direction in producing this dissertation, but also for being an outstanding role model for excellent teaching. Her dedication to the craft of writing history is unparalleled, and her commitment to her students consistently reaches above and beyond the call of duty. I would also like to thank the additional members of my doctoral committee, Jerry Bentley, Robert Mc Glone, Richard Rapson, and Susan Schultz, who offered expertise, support, and encouragement over the years. This dissertation would not have been possible without the generous support I received during my studies. I would especially like to thank the Dai Ho Chun Scholarship Committee for awarding me the funds to complete this dissertation and the John F. Kennedy Memorial Scholarship which provided funds for me to conduct research at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City. I would also like to thank the many students of mine, both high school and iv college, who have shared their ideas, thoughts, fears, and insecurities with me, thus providing insight into the mindset of a new generation. Finally, I would like to thank my daughter, Erica, who patiently played with Barbies while I worked to bring closure to this project. v ABSTRACT This dissertation, "Dangerously Sensual: The Sexual Revolution, Feminism, and Grrl Power in Postwar America," analyzes the impact of the sexual revolution and feminism on women in postwar America. I argue that the cumulative impact of these two forces produced a "dangerously sensual" brand of female empowerment. I trace through an interrogation of American media and culture the evolution of a highly sexualized femininity from its postwar origins in the mid-1950s to the present. This assertive, sexualized female identity developed both as a response to the cultural and social backlash against feminism and women's liberation in the 1970s and 1980s and as a consequence of the increasing sexualization of America's cultural landscape. Women's issues have been inexorably linked to wider concerns in American society involving foreign policy and domestic affairs. The sexualization of American femininity began during the cold war when the consumer culture promoted consumption as patriotism and bolstered women's consumer power through a "sexual sell." The sexual revolution and the subsequent recognition of sex as a lucrative market furthered this trend. By the early 1960s, both married and single women struggled to embody new sexualized notions of femininity as the feminist movement gained momentum. The women's movement took a radical turn in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and radical feminists rooted their concerns about sexism in a wider critique of American society and foreign policy, particularly regarding the Vietnam War and racism. Liberationists also resis'ted the objectification and sexualization of women and some advocated lesbianism. This feminist extremism, however understandable, hastened a backlash against feminism and shifted some women's rights moderates into the anti-feminist camp. Part of the wider assault vi by the New Right on the Left and on an American society transformed by the liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s, this conservative critique of feminism contributed to women's dangerously sensual compromise: accepting the sexualization of femininity for the benefits of liberation and empowerment. The legacy of this compromise has become visible in the current "Grrl Power" movement, where many younger American women find flaunting their sexuality a perfectly valid expression of their liberation. vii CHAPTER ONE The Dangerously Sensual Woman: Sex, Power, and Compromise in Postwar America But you must remember that arbitrary power is like most other things which are very hard, very liable to be broken; and, not withstanding all your wise laws and maxims, we have it in our power not only to free ourselves, but to subdue our masters, and without violence throw both your natural and legal authority at our feet. 1 ---Abigail Adams to John Adams, 1776 All is not well in Townsville. The Rowdyruff Boys -- creations of the evil villain Mojo Jojo -- are tearing up the streets, wreaking havoc on the city. Buttercup, Blossom, and Bubbles -- the Powerpuff Girls -- are down for the count. Their "grrl power" is simply no match for the brute strength of their male counterparts. As they lie dazed and bewildered in a deep pit in the street, a female voice offers them words of hope. The mayor's assistant, whose face the audience never sees, peers down the dark hole while exposing cleavage the size of the Grand Canyon. "Girls... you've just been attacking the problem from the wrong angle. You have what boys fear most. Instead of fighting, try being nice," she offers. "Huh?" they say in unison. "You know...nice," she says in a steamy, sexy voice as her hands accentuate her bosom. They get the message, and Blossom states with a wink, "Come on girls, let's go get 'em." They bounce back into the sky for one more round with the boys, this time armed with their dangerously sensual strategy. As the Rowdyruff Boys descend on the Powerpuff Girls in a final batter for control of the cartoon universe, the girls abruptly stop. They smile, they bat their eyes, they act coy, and they sway their hips. The boys stand transfixed, powerless, frozen like deer in the headlights. The girls pucker up, reach over, and plant one on each of them. Poof! The boys 1 Abigail Adams, Letter to John Adams, 7 May 1776, on line at The Liz Library, Woman's Suffrage Timeline, www.thelizlibary.org. 1 explode and dissipate into the atmosphere. The evil Mojo Jojo is defeated, and "grrl power" has once again saved the day. As the show ends, Blossom confesses to the girls: "gee, I kinda liked kissing!" They giggle away into the sunset,2 On the surface, three pint-sized superheroines would seem an insignificant barometer of the state of women's identity in the new millennium. However, the "grrl power" movement of the 1990s and 2000s-- for which the cartoon figures have become icons -- exemplifies the conflicted notions of womanhood bombarding women and girls today. Even their name suggests conflict -- The Powerpuff Girls -- and begs further analysis. Their success as a cult phenomenon is a microcosm of the way in which American society is coping with the aftermath of the cold war, modern American feminism, the sexual revolution, the women's liberation movement, and the subsequent backlash against feminism-- a backlash perpetuated by women and men alike -- in the 1970s and 1980s. Many areas of contestation about the role of women in American society remain matters of public debate for Americans of different generations and political persuasions. In the 1980s, faced with so many options, women felt compelled to "do it all," a condition labeled the "supermom syndrome," which Carl Degler attributed to women's inability to come to terms with their own conflicted ambitions.3 I argue instead that "supermom" gave way to "soccer mom" because of American society's failure to accommodate the rising ambitions of women. American women today struggle to balance the demands of career and family, with the workplace falling woefully short of society's needs for working parents and with government assistance remaining virtually nonexistent. Some women, caught between the unrelenting demands 2 "RowdyruffBoys," The PowerpuffGirls episode 12. Cartoon Network (cartoonnetwork.com), aired at various times in the 1999-2000 season. All scenes and dialogue taken directly from the episode. 3 Carl Degler, At Odds: Women in America From the Revolution to the Present (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980), 436-473.

Load more

  308

Copy Link