Ok, so some things in the golden era were not too cool...

[LizzieMaine]

Whenever you see a product advertised in a women's magazine for its "germicidal" properties, it's more than likely a product that was covertly sold as a contraceptive. Lysol and Zonite were the products most commonly marketed in this way -- and no, people weren't so stupid as to put full-strength Lysol in their delicate places, the recommended dilution was a few drops in a quart of water. Listerine was also occasionally used for such purposes, but was not effective.

Diaphragms were available from doctors, with a prescription, but such prescriptions were usually only given to married women unless you had an "understanding" with a sympathetic doc.

There were plenty of folk contraceptives too, including Coca-Cola and half-a-lemon, which were used exactly the way you're thinking. There was actually some reason to think these might work given the acidity, but they weren't exactly foolproof.

In 1939, after my mother was born, my grandmother was told that because of damage suffered during that birth, she'd be in danger if she had another child. That night she told my grandfather he'd be sleeping in the kitchen, and that's where he slept for the next forty years.

 

[sheeplady]

We had a good thread about vintage birth control in the PR a couple years ago, which might be worth searching up for the full discussion. But the gist of it is that there were commercial spermicidal jellies and similar products on sale in the US well before the war -- you could order Ortho-Gynol from the Sears catalog as far back as 1938 -- but they were very discreetly marketed as being "germicidal" products due to a conflicting network of state laws about the distribution of birth control information. Some states were quite liberal about such things, but others prohibited birth-control information outright, usually states with a significant Catholic influence. The Ladies Home Journal during the thirties pushed heavily for liberalization of birth-control laws, and published many frank discussions of this topic before the war.

I'm curious if anyone knows if these were available in countries that were decidely even more anti-birth control than the US though? For instance, I can't imagine that these were widely advertised at all in a place with strong religious influences, like Ireland.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The "Malthusian League" was active in Europe from the late 19th century into the '20s -- this was an organization that taught that poverty and crime were the result of a too-high birth rate, and they campaigned for contraceptive rights on that basis -- the problem was, the League was mostly middle-class people who believed that working class people ought to stop reproducing quite so much, and because of that emphasis the organization soon got caught up in the eugenics movement -- which led to advocating some decidedly distasteful practices such as forced sterilization of "undesirables." Margaret Sanger was also heavily influenced by Malthusianism, which led to some rather embarassing pronouncements in her early booklets about who should and shouldn't reproduce.

There was a feminine hygeine product called "Rendell's" which was widely sold in Britain before the war -- it was the approximate equivalent of the "germicidal" products sold in the US.

 

[jamespowers]

The "Malthusian League" was active in Europe from the late 19th century into the '20s -- this was an organization that taught that poverty and crime were the result of a too-high birth rate, and they campaigned for contraceptive rights on that basis -- the problem was, the League was mostly middle-class people who believed that working class people ought to stop reproducing quite so much, and because of that emphasis the organization soon got caught up in the eugenics movement -- which led to advocating some decidedly distasteful practices such as forced sterilization of "undesirables." Margaret Sanger was also heavily influenced by Malthusianism, which led to some rather embarassing pronouncements in her early booklets about who should and shouldn't reproduce.

There was a feminine hygeine product called "Rendell's" which was widely sold in Britain before the war -- it was the approximate equivalent of the "germicidal" products sold in the US.

Interesting how Sanger's pronouncements for birth control ended up being completely backward as to who would use it most. lol lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

Sanger was a very outspoken woman, on a lot of things. There's a 1957 Mike Wallace interview with her here where she gives her views on a lot of topics that supposedly "nobody discussed" in the Era. There are a couple of squirm-worthy moments, though, especially at the end when she announces she's going to take up smoking the cigarette that sponsors the Wallace program.

 

[jamespowers]

Sanger was a very outspoken woman, on a lot of things. There's a 1957 Mike Wallace interview with her here where she gives her views on a lot of topics that supposedly "nobody discussed" in the Era. There are a couple of squirm-worthy moments, though, especially at the end when she announces she's going to take up smoking the cigarette that sponsors the Wallace program.

It is interesting to noticwe our current level of population in reference to her thoughts that we couldn't feed this many people.

 

[LizzieMaine]

McDonalds was only just getting started then. Who knew?

 

[jamespowers]

McDonalds was only just getting started then. Who knew?

:rofl:

 

[Atomic Age]

It is interesting to noticwe our current level of population in reference to her thoughts that we couldn't feed this many people.

There were several books published from the 50's through the early 70's that kept predicting that there would be mass famine in the United States by the 1980'a because of population growth. What all of these books failed to anticipate were advancements in farming techniques, and transportation of fresh food across the country, and from other countries.

Doug

 

[jamespowers]

There were several books published from the 50's through the early 70's that kept predicting that there would be mass famine in the United States by the 1980'a because of population growth. What all of these books failed to anticipate were advancements in farming techniques, and transportation of fresh food across the country, and from other countries.

Doug

The sky never fell.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The problem now isn't not enough food, at least in the United States, as it is too much of the wrong kind of food. Fifteen years ago, 20 percent of American adults were obese. Today, it's over 30 percent. It shows no sign, despite years of anti-obesity campaigns, of slowing down.

I'm no natural food faddist -- I grew up on lard, butter, potatoes, pork, and beef, and only ate greens when my mother threatened to kick me down the cellar stairs if I didn't, but clearly there's something going on in the American diet now that wasn't going on then. Whether it's too much corn syrup, too much of some other additive, too-big portions of too much junk, or something else, there's something going on that needs to stop.

In the Era, people ate much smaller portions, there was no such thing as a global snack-food industry, and between-meal treats were very very rare. And when you were eating on the ration, you didn't have much chance to gorge yourself. There were no a-la-carte cafeterias in schools, no soda machines in schools, and no pre-packaged lunch items. The only thing sold for lunch was a half-pint bottle of white milk for a nickel. A kid went to school with a brown paper bag containing a baloney or peanut butter sandwich on white bread and an apple, or they went home for lunch and had a bowl of Campbell's soup. There were no seconds and no thirds. Maybe we ought to get back to that kind of routine, but we never will. The "Lunch Industry" wouldn't stand for it.

 

[Atomic Age]

The problem now isn't not enough food, at least in the United States, as it is too much of the wrong kind of food. Fifteen years ago, 20 percent of American adults were obese. Today, it's over 30 percent. It shows no sign, despite years of anti-obesity campaigns, of slowing down.

I'm no natural food faddist -- I grew up on lard, butter, potatoes, pork, and beef, and only ate greens when my mother threatened to kick me down the cellar stairs if I didn't, but clearly there's something going on in the American diet now that wasn't going on then. Whether it's too much corn syrup, too much of some other additive, too-big portions of too much junk, or something else, there's something going on that needs to stop.

In the Era, people ate much smaller portions, there was no such thing as a global snack-food industry, and between-meal treats were very very rare. And when you were eating on the ration, you didn't have much chance to gorge yourself.

I totally agree that we eat far too large a portion. However, the reason the official obesity rate went up 15 years ago, is because the government lowered the threshold of what was considered obese. So suddenly millions of people who were considered of normal weight, were suddenly obese by government standards.

Yes Americans are heavier on average than they have been in the past, but they are also considerably taller than they were 50 years ago, so it just makes sense that they would be heavier.

Doug

 

[amador]

I did some cancer research a while back. At the lab we needed to have fatty rat livers for an experiment. We added Fructose to their water and in about 2 weeks their livers turned out to be about 3X normal size and turned yellowish white due to the amount of interstitial fat.
I know, humans are not rats. I'm just sayin.....

 

[Atomic Age]

The sky never fell.

The sky almost never falls, but they have to say it is or they don't sell books, or newspapers.

Doug

 

[Tomasso]

I know, humans are not rats.

Some are....

 

[LizzieMaine]

I totally agree that we eat far too large a portion. However, the reason the official obesity rate went up 15 years ago, is because the government lowered the threshold of what was considered obese. So suddenly millions of people who were considered of normal weight, were suddenly obese by government standards.

Except that the increases have been going on steadily since the mid-1980s. And it's tough to deny that there are far more overweight children now than there were thirty or forty years ago. When I was in grammar school there was exactly one kid in my class who was what we then called "fat," and in his case it was clearly a genetic issue. Watch any group of kids in any schoolyard today and your eyes will tell the story.

I don't think that anyone can doubt we're being sold more crap than ever -- again, when I was a kid there was no such thing as an entire aisle of snack foods in the grocery store. You'd have a small rack of potato chips, and a shelf of cookies next to the crackers, and some candy bars at the checkout, but you didn't have an entire aisle of stuff extending the full length of the store.

We snack now more than we ever have, and we see the results everywhere we look. I saw a man get his avoirdupois stuck in a seat at Fenway Park once -- where many of the seats date to the mid-thirties, when people didn't have as much to go around -- and while he was cursing and swearing at his wife to pull him loose, he continued to eat his foot-long hot dog and swill his giant cup of beer.

 

[jamespowers]

The sky almost never falls, but they have to say it is or they don't sell books, or newspapers.

Doug

And to get government funding for their research.

 

[Atomic Age]

Except that the increases have been going on steadily since the mid-1980s. And it's tough to deny that there are far more overweight children now than there were thirty or forty years ago. When I was in grammar school there was exactly one kid in my class who was what we then called "fat," and in his case it was clearly a genetic issue. Watch any group of kids in any schoolyard today and your eyes will tell the story.

I don't think that anyone can doubt we're being sold more crap than ever -- again, when I was a kid there was no such thing as an entire aisle of snack foods in the grocery store. You'd have a small rack of potato chips, and a shelf of cookies next to the crackers, and some candy bars at the checkout, but you didn't have an entire aisle of stuff extending the full length of the store.

We snack now more than we ever have, and we see the results everywhere we look. I saw a man get his avoirdupois stuck in a seat at Fenway Park once -- where many of the seats date to the mid-thirties, when people didn't have as much to go around -- and while he was cursing and swearing at his wife to pull him loose, he continued to eat his foot-long hot dog and swill his giant cup of beer.

I'm not sure we can blame anyone but the parents. When I was a kid we could have gone to McDonald's every day, but we didn't. When I was growing up in the early 70's, we definitely had a full aisle of snacks a the grocery store. But my mom didn't buy everything from it.

Also we ran a mile every day in P.E. and physical education seems to be something that they are eliminating from schools along with music.

Having said that, my work takes me to schools quite frequently (doing photography) and I'm really not seeing that large numbers of "fat" kids that I'm hearing about on the news all the time.

Doug

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I graduated in 09. There were overweight kids, including myself, I was 60 pounds heavier then. There were far more thin kids, though.

 

[amador]

A Dark Tale from the Clinic:

I had a female patient , BMI > 50, that got stuck in the exam room chair, it had arm rests. She stood up and the chair went with her. We pulled it off her Steatopygic hips while she stood there.


ste·at·o·py·gi·a [stee-at-uh-pahy-jee-uh, stee-uh-tuh-]
noun
extreme accumulation of fat on and about the buttocks, especially of women.



No more arm rests on the chairs in the clinic, thank you.