January 15th, 2009 -- by Bacchus
Bummer Of An Apron, Dude
When I first saw this graphic I thought it must be in support of the “forced feminization” fetish that, in its more misogynist incarnations, makes Bitchy Jones want to start jumping up and down on somebody’s balls (and not in a good way, either):
It turns out I was dead wrong. Or was I? Conceptually speaking, I’m not so sure; because this actually comes from the September, 1955 Cosmopolitan (yes, that Cosmo) magazine, and it illustrated an article that had the following reader’s hook:
His bride betrayed him on the very first day… she did not cook his breakfast! And that, it turned out, was the beginning of the end.
“Am I a man or a mouse?” He wondered as he washed the dishes–and answered, “I’m a mouse.”
This entry was posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 10:44 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response.
Shorter URL for sharing: http://www.erosblog.com/?p=2850
Shorter URL for sharing: http://www.erosblog.com/?p=2850
Whatever the odd message, that picture is cute. I could use some mice in my kitchen.
im a cheese lovin mouse too
It’s hard to remember how different the fifties were. This illustration and the one a few days ago with the daughter jumping on her dad filter really differently through our eyes. Wasn’t there a scene in ‘Rebel without a Cause” where James Dean’s character is embarrassed because his dad was wearing an apron? Cosmo in the fifties and sixties would have been proto feminist for an audience that was thirsty for such ideas. The turnaround of gender roles like this was just waiting for a time when real equality would be possible.
And I think the father-daughter illustration was totally innocent. If the artist was being subversive he got it past an art director and various editors, all of whose jobs would have been on the line. A wife could get spanked in an Arrow shirt ad but no mainstream publication would let incest pass through with a wink or a nudge. I don’t think the father actually does have an up skirt view. You’ll have to go to Fragonards women on swings for that.