http://www.bonkersinstitute.org/medshow/femsingle.html
First of all, it suggests that a woman must find companionship in a man in order to be happy. Being single or independent is apparently unacceptable and creates unhappiness. Not only must you marry, but you must marry young (35 is too old) and soon, and to a man. Jan is at a loss, she has low self-esteem, she is psychoneurotic. She is identified as an 'unmarried." I realize that this is the value and the norm of another time, but I am surprised to see that it is from 1970! I would have guessed somewhere in the 1940s or 1950s, but the 60s and 70s were a much more liberal period, at least from what I've read and heard. Would a 35-year-old unmarried man be described the same way? Or would he just be looking for the right one, or too busy and successful to be tied down.
The ad itself is pretty interesting also. Jan is shown in pictures throughout the years with a different man in every other picture, or her father (the only man in her life.) The title describes her as '35, single, and pschyo-neurotic,' while the pictures describe her as lonely, unworthy, and desperate. The lady in these pictures is out and about with the various men, while making domestic/family/happy memories with her father. And after describing her, we see that this drug can be given to women to relieve the neurotic sense of failure and anxiety, obviously put on by women in these conditions. Its aim is to treat patients with depression, apprehension, agitation, etc. and is implying - with this particular ad- that unfit, unmarried women experience all of the above. Women are not successful and independent, and the only goals the have are to be happily married and a future mother. And at a young age. With Valium, these misfits can feel just like all of married champions.
There seems to be a huge pressure for women to act and live a certain way, which you put very well in your post, but it's all from the observation of an outsider. A man. It is to say, "women should marry young," not "we should marry young" because women don't seem to have any say in it according to the adds. I wonder if it's the opinions on female roles and lifestyles that have changed over the decades, or merely whose opinions we're listening to?
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