As the acclaimed AMC series Mad Men dramatically illustrated, the 1960s brought a new tone to American advertising: provocative, sometimes irreverent — and yet still often full of condescending ’50s-style attitudes towards women. Let’s take a look at a sampling of 1960s car ads featuring women, ranging from slick but patronizing sophistication to unapologetic cheesecake.
This 1961 ad is one of a long-running series of Cadillac advertisements featuring specially tailored jewelry and gowns. The jewels pictured at the top were created by Black, Starr & Gorham, while the model’s white opera gown and red cape were by fashion designer Norman Norell (who had just recently established his own label). The locale was the posh San Francisco Opera House. The Cadillac itself seemed kind of wedged in the middle, but the point was to present it as an upscale luxury accessory for affluent women.
Somewhat surprisingly, Cadillac was more likely than a lot of automakers to acknowledge that women might actually drive their cars, a prospect some ad copywriters of this period still seemed to regard as an absurdity worthy of an I Love Lucy plot. The copy of this ad reads:
It will be a lucky lady indeed who welcomes a new 1961 Cadillac into her life. The car is consummately beautiful. Its interiors are spacious and luxurious as never before. And it is wondrously smooth, quiet and agile in motion. Driver or passenger, she will find that in a very real way it notably enriches the hours of every day. Why not discuss the possibility of a new Cadillac with your family? You might just be that lucky lady.
Note that the ad isn’t quite enlightened enough to suggest that said lucky lady might buy her own Cadillac (although there were at least a few well-heeled women of this time who did exactly that), suggesting instead that the reader “discuss the possibility of a new Cadillac with your family.”
This 1961 Fiat ad proposes a his-and-hers approach to new-car shopping. The body copy reads:
The FIAT 1200 SPIDER is all the car a man could want. A tiger on the road. Stunning Italian styling by Pinin Farina. Careful Italian craftsmanship in every detail. A 1221 cc. engine that delivers plenty of zip and remarkable economy. Roll-up windows, plenty of leg-room, tuckaway soft top and optional hard top too, if wanted. Best of all, a price tag that lets you drive it instead of dream about it—only $2595*.
The FIAT 600 is everyone’s ideal car, perfect for scooting to the supermarket, taking the kids to school, or taking the whole family to grandma’s. It parks in spaces that don’t look big enough for a bike. Surprising gasoline economy. Includes almost $300† worth of accessories at no extra charge. And costs only $1198*.
SPIDER or 600, a FIAT will keep your family happy. Your budget, too. Try either one tomorrow. Better yet, try both.
If you’re wondering, the little dagger includes that the $300 worth of accessories included on the Fiat 600 were “a heater, defroster, whitewalls, windshield washers, electric wipers, turn signals, undercoating, leatherette interiors, and fold-down rear seats.”
Even in the most censorious eras, there are writers, directors, artists, and ad writers who can’t resist a bit of impish censor-baiting. This cheek 1963 Dodge ad (the full version of our lead image) is a fine example: Nothing actually indecent is going on in this ad — the only reason to assume these four ladies aren’t fully dressed behind the screen is that in the second illustration, they all appear to be wearing dresses with shoulders. However, it gives the impression of being naughty without actually showing anything, suggesting a kind of Playboy pictorial scenario where attractive women have nothing better to do than lounge around half-naked in provocative poses.
If that seems racier than you’d expect from early ’60s Dodge, not to fear — the ad copy quickly retreats from the suggestiveness of the lead illustrations:
The something comfortable in this case is a 1963 Dodge Polara 4-door hardtop. It’s not the clinging sort of comfortable, either; you might say that it’s more like housecoat comfortable. Lots of room to move around in. Note the roofline. It sweeps straight back instead of sloping off. It means plenty of headroom for front and rear seat passengers. And everyone rides in more comfort, because Dodge seats are chair-high. All 24 Dodge models (in three series) offer you this kind of comfort at a variety of prices, all low. Sedans, hardtops, wagons, convertibles — Dependables all. We’ve got lots for the male side, too. For economy, a going 225 cu. in. 6. For action, a stable full of V8’s ranging from the standard 318 cu. in. V8 to an all-out 426 cu. in. high-performance job. There’s more: like self-adjusting brakes, 32,000 miles between grease jobs, and a unitized, rust-protected body. The good looks should already be obvious to you. The rest? See your Dodge Dealer.
It’s interesting that the first feature it lists “for the male side” is the economical 225-cid Slant Six, but this ad presents its women as fashionable but frivolous.
Cadillac ad may have shown women in the driver’s seat more often than some, but that didn’t necessarily stop their copywriters from presenting that in the most condescending terms:
CADILLAC LADIES LOVE TO PLAY CHAUFFEUR. Unusual?
Not at all. For this one is really fun to drive…feather-light and sure to handle…smooth and effortless on the move…quick and nimble in the clutches. The reasons are mostly man-talk: a high performance engine, a true center drive line, a triple braking system, graduated power steering. But the result is eloquent enough for any lady to understand: the finest, sweetest performance in any automobile today. Visit your dealer soon and see for yourself. And don’t forget to bring your loveliest chauffeur with you.
So, the copy emphasizes that the car appeals to the ladies, but reassures the prospective male customer that a new Cadillac would be his car, even if he magnanimously allowed his wife or mistress to ferry him around in it.
The fellow behind the wheel of the red Tempest in this 1963 Pontiac ad looks like he’s in need of some reassurance. Sitting with your arms behind your head like that is generally considered a self-consciously domineering gesture, so it’s as if this guy is desperately trying to demonstrate that he’s not threatened by the woman on the motorcycle. With her big Harley-Davison Duo-Glide and black leather boots, she’s presented as a rather exotic figure, like a character from the racier variety of European movies of the time. (I know very little about motorcycles — thanks to commenter Nate for identifying this one!)
With an image like this, I don’t think anyone at Pontiac ad agency McManus, John and Adams seriously expected people to read the copy, but if you’re curious, it says:
Oddly enough, most people don’t ride on motorcycles too much, except for fun. And what’s fun on a ‘cycle isn’t fun in a car—namely, leaning ‘way over to help get around a turn. That’s why we put Wide-Track on Tempest this year: to keep you stable and level when you turn. Tempest isn’t the only car with Wide-Track, but we don’t fret about the competition. We make the other one too. Wide-Track Pontiac Tempest
Emphasizing stability in turns was a little ironic because handling stability was definitely NOT a strong point of the “rope-drive” Tempest, which shared its suspension with the Corvair and was susceptible to the same alarming jacking and tuck-under antics. If this convertible driver had tried to impress the woman on the motorcycle on a winding mountain road, he might have been in for some very bad moments.
This 1964 Cadillac ad has another woman at the wheel, but the copy is so preoccupied with showcasing the new Comfort Control air conditioning that it doesn’t waste words being patronizing. The copy reads:
IT’S EASY TO BE A WEATHERMAN IN A NEW CADILLAC!
Or a weatherwoman, as the case may be. For with the exclusive new Comfort Control, which combines heating and air conditioning in a single unit, the interior weather never changes. Even humidity is under perfect control. This system, now available as an extra-cost option, actually anticipates outside conditions and adjusts for them before they occur. After all, the Cadillac for 1964 is more than a hundred ways new. It has amazing new agility and responsiveness in traffic. Its ride is smooth and quiet as never before. And its luxury and styling are the finest of all time. Arrange a date with this new Cadillac motor car someday soon. It’s more tempting than ever—and just wait till you drive it!
Many buyers did find it tempting: 75 percent ordered Comfort Control for 1964, at an added cost of $494.50. Tom Halter’s history of automatic climate control explains how the system worked.
The headline and illustrations 1964 Corvair Monza are particularly teeth-gnashing in their sexism — that the wife “stole” the family car is neither here nor there, but we’re expected to assume that her errands are silly and frivolous, whereas he’s dressed for work. However, the tongue-in-cheek copy offers a modest reversal, suggesting that the wife likes their Corvair for the same “for-men-only reasons” as her husband:
Like most men, the fellow riding the bench has definite opinions on what he buys in the way of neckties, flyrods—and cars. But right now he’s having some second thoughts on just who talked whom into buying a new Corvair.
Sure, he had his for-men-only reasons. Output in the standard engine is up nearly 19 per cent this year—to 95 hp. (And in the new Monza Spyder models it’s a virile 150 hp.)
He also had a knowledgeable appreciation of Corvair’s steering, cornering and rear-engine traction. Things his wife really couldn’t be expected to be interested in.
Tidy styling and tasteful (she called them “chic”) interiors—that’s all that concerned her. Or so our bench warmer thought. Until he began counting his commuter tokens one day.
The point is that the same things he liked about the car—its spirit, the ease with which it turns and fits into parking places, the way it grips on ice, mud and snow—his wife liked too. Maybe even more so.
Matter of fact, it’s sometimes occurred to us that if we built a car for women only we probably couldn’t make it more to their liking than this one. Couple of us married fellows were talking about that at the bus stop just the other day.
Dodge, incidentally, had actually tried to make a car “for women only”: the 1955–1956 Dodge La Femme, a specially decorated pink-and-white Dodge Royal Lancer hardtop. It was an embarrassing commercial flop — as the copywriters at Chevrolet ad agency Campbell Ewald coyly acknowledged in the above ad, the qualities that women liked in cars were really not terribly different from the priorities of male buyers.
Next, we stop off at AMC. This 1965 ad for the Rambler Marlin isn’t exactly racy, but pretty girls and Op Art graphic design were a change of pace for American Motors, which had just switched ad agencies from Geyer, Morey, Ballard to Benton & Bowles.
The art director did their best with the big fish, but few marques sold in America in 1965 were LESS macho than AMC, and the implication that the Marlin’s “man-size” dimensions gave it sex appeal was preposterous. (I don’t think its size and awkward shape did much to endear it to female buyers either — quite a few women were buying Mustangs by this time, and judging by the sale figures, not many were tempted by the Marlin.)
The ad copy is less chauvinistic, but you can sense the copywriter’s desperation:
You’re looking at the most exciting Rambler ever built—Marlin! A car unlike anything else on the scene today. Here’s too much automobile to be just another fastback—too much luxury to be just another sports car—too much solid value to be anything but a Rambler. You get dazzling performance, including the might of a 327 cu.-in. V-8 option. You get Power Disc Brakes and individually adjustable reclining front seats, standard. You get a choice of practically any sports option you can name, like floor shifts, console, bucket seats, wire-wheel covers—plus all the solid extra-value features Rambler provides at no extra cost, such as Deep-Dip rustproofing, Double-Safety Brakes (separate systems, front and rear)—and more. Catch the Marlin in all its excitement—at your Rambler dealer now. In limited production, but stepping up fast. American Motors—Dedicated to Excellence
(For the record, front discs didn’t STAY standard on the Marlin for very long; by the start of the 1966 model year, they’d moved to the options list.)
We segue from AMC’s tentative stab at sex appeal to a slice of Italian cheesecake with this 1966 Fiat ad. The small text under the headline has three little checkboxes labeled, “A Little? A Whole Lot? The Most! (Check one. Don’t cheat!)” The copy at the bottom reads:
If you checked “The Most,” Congratulations! You’re a natural born Fiat man. A man who knows a beautiful thing when he sees it—and what to do with it. A man loaded with red blood cells that glow brighter when adventure’s in the wind. The Fiat 1500 Spider with five forward speed transmission is adventure on wheels, bumper-to-bumper excitement that makes everything fun. You checked only “A Little?” Cheer up. Spin the Spider around the block and check with us again. Always have at least one Fiat!
One might normally expect to see a chic young woman like the model driving a Fiat 1500 Spider rather than just posing on the hood — the Spider was a cute little sports car of a kind that some women find hard to resist — but I suppose Fiat’s U.S. ad agency warned them that they couldn’t say that or men might be afraid to buy one, thinking it too much of a “girl’s car.”
Many ads imply that buying the product will give the customer an immediate boost with members of the appropriate gender, but this 1968 Ford Mustang ad actually puts a poor schlub through the complete Charles Atlas transformation, which ultimately rewards him with not one, not two, but THREE attractive young women. The copy says:
Sidney spent Sundays seashelling at the seashore. Then Sidney started digging the ’68 Mustang—the great original. Dug the models: hardtop, fastback and convertible. Liked the low price, too, which Sidney lots of clams to design his own Mustang, Sidney style. Now Sidney’s making waves all over. Last week he saved 3 bathing beauties. (And they all could swim better than Sidney!)
Given how many young women bought Mustangs in this era, I mused that Ford could have done a gender-reversed version of this ad, showing a female Mustang owner enjoying admiring male attention. Then, I remembered that Ford did exactly that barely two years later, in the brochure for the 1970 Mustang:
The larger text reads:
carol edmonston had a b.a., m.a. and ph.d. but really wanted her mrs.
since she bought mustang she can’t decide between mr. b.a., mr. m.a. or the ph.d.
I’m not going to transcribe the rest of the copy (which is a lengthy enumeration of the features of the Mustang Grandé), but the first lines reiterates the theme: “Carol has decision problems—but nice ones. How about you?”
Not exactly the world’s greatest blow for gender equality, admittedly, but given some of the ads that preceded it, I guess it’s only fair.
Aaron, thanks for a great post. I actually collect old car magazine ads secured from old copies of Life Magazine and National Geographic. Beside all the points you summarized, I also liked the way the ads projected you are not just buying a car but are also buying a lifestyle. As much as photographs with cars and models worked well, I also enjoyed the illustrated ads that Cadillac and Pontiac used. Some are almost works of art. It was a colorful era and sure much better than our current status of grey, white, and black cars in motion.
I am liking the blue ’63 Dodge very much .
The Motocycle is a Harley-Davidson “Duo-Glide” with the excellent ‘Pan Head’ engine , likely a 74″, could be a 61″ as some fleets still used those at the time .
’64 Caddy with ‘Wonderbar’ radio is nice but it looks like she’s in park . I prefer the ’65 .
Corvairs were delightful to drive, men or women .
One has to have driven a new Fiat back in the day, they pretty much sold themselves once you were behind the wheel .
Sadly that ‘careful Italian craftsmanship in every detail’ meant something very different from what American auto buyers were looking for .
God knows, the ’66 Fiat looked the business but .
-Nate
Thanks!
“Sadly that ‘careful Italian craftsmanship in every detail’ meant something very different from what American auto buyers were looking for .”
In my mother’s land, they translate FIAT as “Fehler in allen Teilen” ( = “faults in all parts”).
And here in the U.S., it translates to “Fix It Again Tony.”
It was my experience that GM cars tended to be designed with women in mind more than Chrysler products back in the late 1950s and early 1960s. As an example, the Mopars I owned from that era had thick steering wheels that felt great in my hands, but my 63 Cadillac had a much thinner steering wheel rim that was probably more comfortable for the smaller hands of the typical female driver of that time. That Cadillac, by the way, had been purchased by a widowed female – and oddly, one who did not drive. But she was equipped with a new Cadillac in the garage whenever she could get someone to take her somewhere.
Real life is (and was) certainly more complex than the world as depicted in advertising, but I also think that advertising had a way of picking up many norms and attitudes that were common in that day. One was that a second car for the wife was not expected to be as big or as nice as the main car which hubby drove. Another was that many men would buy cars without consulting their wives. Neither of these was something I would ever have done, but they were common occurrences in my parents’ generation.
I love seeing this grouping of ads, thanks for assembling these!
Thankfully advertising has evolved. Exhibit A the recent Jaguar campaign.
TAKE ME BACK TO THE 60S.
And yes that ’63 Dodge looks really good.
Considering that Jag ad already takes you back to the ’80s (it unironically copies the Apple “1984” ad!) you could probably hitchhike the rest of the way back from there.
Kind of seems appropriate for most popular brand of driverless cars.
Correction, appropriate for the most popular brand of *car*less cars
Yes, well done Jaguar. There are probably some people still unaware that there’s nothing of substance left to Jaguar – definitely nothing authentically British, for starters. Instead, we’re left with a shell of a company, hollowed out by decades conglomeration, twisting in the cultural wind. No innovation. No hint of “pace, space, and grace.” But for the few people who’ve failed to realize that the people who brought you the E-pace (the name to start with!) couldn’t hold a candle to a classic Jaaag with unlimited time and all the resources in Christendom, here’s the poke in the eye you’ve been waiting for. I mean, if you want to pander to a ridiculous fad run amuck and drive a disposable piece of plastic that no one will ever call classic to symbolize that (assuming they ever see one – they’ll be impossible to keep on the road in 10 years, and no one will care), knock yourself out. You are right that advertising has evolved…
I remember old Chrysler ads seen in Life magazine with the Unique Selling Proposition of “The 1 man in 4 who wants a little more” — apparently appealing to the engineering types who wanted the “best-engineered” automobiles sold then by Chrysler.
The ad copy for that ’63 or so white “Chauffeured” Cadillac – “feather light handling”! Maybe in terms of degree of power steering assist, but that is a heavy car! They are pitching it as if it’s a two seater – great handling – for sure!
They guy has two suitcases in hand – a getaway weekend with his not Mrs.? Some sort of rendezvous in a remote part outside of town? The mind wanders.
I love the old car ads. (or just old ads in general).
Like this one:
That one…reeks! Unbelievable.
And then there’s the 1969 Dodge Charger RT/SE.
“My name’s Julia.”
That one is quite something.
I wonder if that was national advertising or regional. If I recall, Dodge did a lot of regional advertising back in the day and some of it pushed boundaries more so than the ads designed for a national market.
It was national. The copy and photography are way too slick for a regional effort. It’s worth noting that the most provocative ads only ran once (or, at the most, twice) and then mainly in the auto industry shill Motor Trend.
Chrysler was the company that really went all-in for this sort of extreme thing in the late sixties. Conservative GM and Ford rarely went this far. Even the Mustang ads were compartively tame in comparison, which makes a great deal of sense since Mustang sales skewed the most towards the burgeoning, young, single female demographic. I don’t recall what Marlo Thomas drove (if it was ever even shown), but Mary Tyler Moore is certainly known for her Mustangs shown in the show’s opening sequences.
Regard;ess,. an example of how sensitive GM was about this were a couple of GTO ads late in the musclecar era. The first was the infamous ‘You Know the Rest of the Story’ magazine ad for the 1968 GTO which was a none-too-subtle reference to street racing on Woodward Ave in Detroit. The other was the one-time tv commercial played during the 1970 Super Bowl half-time which showed a young guy in a GTO slowly cruising through a drive-in, obviously looking for a race. It included the short-lived Vacuum Operated Exhaust (VOE) option which, when toggled, opened up flaps in the mufflers for a more staight-thru system.
GM corporate frowned on both, and it was as close as they would ever get to Chrysler’s wild ads.
This one didn’t make it to the states.
Seems fitting with Bardot’s recent passing.
Cadillac set the tone in 1959. “Targeted” advertising: gowns for mother and daughter by Jane Derby (1895–1965) of New York, 1959 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible, body by Fisher. The gowns probably were depicted in close to life-like dimensions but although long, even 1959 Cadillacs (lower image) weren’t quite this long and there was no color in that year’s catalog quite that pink. Women visiting a Cadillac dealer are advised to bring “the man of the house”.
Great collection of ads and analysis, Aaron.
Precisely because the goal of these “golden age” of advertising ads was to thread the needle between prevailing cultural ideas and trends, ads are such a wonderful way of gathering a grip on the cultural climate of their time.
It may be a bit condescending to say so but that lady on the Duo Glide would likely to have been very hard pressed to start it, electric start didn’t come until 1965, the last year of the FL panhead and called Electra Glide . I know, I had a ’58 Duo and it was a bear to start even when I was 23, and 6′ 1″ 210 lbs. (the latter figure has gone up a bit since then lol).
They had manual spark advance and better be set just right or the kickback could break an ankle or a leg.
As far as winding roads go, FLs handled like a ’55 Buick, they’d probably have trouble keeping up with the Pontiac, the footboards would drag in even the mildest corner. Mine almost threw me off once when it caught me by surprise on a tricky turn. I quickly got tired of that and traded it in for a new Trident. Most 61 inchers were XLCHs not EL/FLs and those handled much better as well as being considerably faster.
My sister’s boyfriend’s Dad was Spiro Agnew’s campaign mgr for Baltimore Co Exec in MD and had a ’63 Tempest with 326 V8 and that thing, even though pre-GTO, would really go, at least in a straight line, and it sounded sweet too. Agnew, not so much.
First thought on that ’63 Tempest ad, “Yeah I want to see her kick that Pinhead over.” Electric start (aka Electra Glide) wasn’t offered until ’64 or ’65 (can’t remember which). For that matter, I’d like to see HIM kick that bike over.
Always fun to look at these ads, but what’s the “triple braking system” on the Caddy?
I think it was having both a dual-circuit master cylinder and a parking brake:
2+1=3.
I was wondering the same thing, plus what’s a “true center driveline?”
I too want a “Fiat Spider”! Like that “Marlin”, as well.
Another great read so thanks for posting. I have collections of precision diecast scale model cars, auto brochure’s of my favorite 50s-60s cars, I have a large collection of car books. I have bought a number of books this year and highly recommend one book if you like the old ads. It is titled “Glamour Road” which I bought on Amazon after reading a review in one of my car mags. Absolutely beautiful book about auto advertising and women’s influence, the best on the subject.
When I see these ads I think of two women in my life, Mom & her sister Gwen. Both beautiful, independent women. In the late 40s & early 50s Mom was an ex-beauty queen and fashion runway model. The family story was Mom was pregnant with me in 1951, I was due, she was booked for a runway fashion show. She got out in the snow and walked for hours, labor induced, I popped out, and she was on the runway a few weeks later with her model figure intact. Mom preferred her convertibles and seldom put the top up until it rained. She always kept a red silk headscarf in her convertibles that reminded me when seeing the ad with the white Cadillac convertible, the lady wearing a headscarf. Moms sister, my aunt Gwen, she was like my second mother and later in life my best friend. I remember Gwen telling me her first new car she bought as a single young lady was a yellow 1954 Chevrolet convertible. I say single, but upon Gwen’s death in 2005, I found documents (with her daughter) that Gwen had been married during WW II. Turned out the guy was a Nazi spy, she turned him in, the government annulled the marriage, all this was keep secret until we found the papers after Gwen’s death In an old box in the attic. I could write a book of my experiences and memories with Gwen. From the 1970s Gwen only bought white Rivieras. She became an executive with the phone company, she loved to drive fast, she once told me her Riviera’s made here feel young. I inherited her last Rivera, a 1998 model, pearl white. A wonderful car I imported to Canada and kept pristine for a number of years. Finally sold it to a elderly couple who was shipping it to their winter home in Arizona. What I kept from the car was Gwen’s red umbrella, a red umbrella she always kept in her white Riviera’s for decades. Sounds a little sketchy, but my Mon’s red silk head scarf and aunts red umbrella are together in a box, in the basement.
Great story! You should write a book 🙂
The reference to the red scarf reminds me of the plastic “rain bonnets” that my mother and grandmother (and many other women in the 1950s and 1960s) were literally never without. I do recall my grandmother once putting one on while driving the Corvair convertible.
VW had a series of ads on how to sell your wife on the practicality of buying a Type II “Station Wagon”, as they called it. This one is the “cheesecakiest”, as it’s the only one where the (quite attractive) wife is shown as well as the bus. Another asks the question: Do you have the right kind of wife for it?
Four:
Three:
Two:
…and »[ FASTEN BELTS ]« one:
Excellent. Great choice by the folks who eventually chose OJ as their celebrity spokesman. 🙁
Those guys were really batting 1000.
I have my favorite ad from the sixties. It is a Christmas promotion for the Dodge Coronet 500 convertible.
Freudians must have enjoyed this one back in the day:
Höhö – THAT is really great !
Great post. I can still remember the very attractive Pamela Austin in cowboy hat and short shorts fronting Dodges back in the 60’s. She certainly gave me as a teenager “Dodge Fever”…
One, somehow that businessman sitting at the bus stop doesn’t look like your typical Corvair buyer.
Two, “If you checked “The Most,” Congratulations! You’re a natural born Fiat man. A man who knows a beautiful thing when he sees it—and what to do with it. A man loaded with red blood cells that glow brighter when adventure’s in the wind”
Someone pass me a barf bag.
Great selection, Aaron!
I’ve long wondered what became of those Cadillac jewels. Maybe given to top dealers’ wives? Or wives of GM execs?
I need to send GM Heritage an email query about that.
Unless I missed it, one ad campaign featured “6 and the Single Girl”, a 1966 Mustang ad that mimicked a well known book at the time to promote a 6 cylinder was for women. We didn’t get those ads in the Midwest, deemed too suggestive.
https://autohistorypreservationsociety.org/document/1966-ford-ad-mustang-six-and-the-single-girl-2/
I was trying to post one of the MG “Your mother wouldn’t like it” ads. They were definitely a product of their time. My first car was an MGB, but not because of the ads.
I do wish cars had a better place for a purse besides on the floor or on the passenger seat. Just sayin’.
A good day to meditate on dissolving dreams.
Ca. 1968 I saw a print ad for the Datsun 510. No pictures of women, but the theme was that the 510 had features (4 on the floor, full independent suspension, OHC) that wouldn’t necessarily have been on a racing car 15 years earlier.
Fairly near the end, it said, “Now your wife can drive it to the laundromat. How times have changed.” I’d think that today, the copywriter wouldn’t assume that the laundry detail was a woman’s job.
I have to admit that when I was about 5, my mother told me to sweep up the front hall of the house. I said, “That’s women’s work,” and I was sincere. That argument did not carry the day.