1953 JET Magazine Cover – Why Lesbians Marry (heterosexual men)
This magazine cover instantly grabbed my attention. Considering the the period in time, this was an extremely bold move for JET Magazine. Pardon my ignorance but I did not even know 2 piece bathing suits existed in the 50′s. I know that this model had to be considered a loose woman or a jezebel. lol
Back to the subject at hand, the writer of this article explored an issue that is still very present in 2013. Why is it that lesbian woman marry heterosexual men. The article explores tenants like security, social acceptance, and self confidence. Check out the complete article, plus a modern review of the article and give me your thoughts.
Observations by l.i.b.e.r.a.t.i.o.n. theory:
Observation #1- Beyond the obvious problems with language, I AM impressed that they were even talking about this in the 1950s, and in BLACK AMERICA in 1950s. Sanitized history will have us believe that everyone was very conservative back then and this was not a “polite” or acceptable topic.
Observation #2- It seems interesting that it implies that for most, lesbianism isn’t a choice, barring those that do it for the thrill. Remember this is the era of gay as a psychological disorder, so this implication is pretty advanced.
Observation #3- I think some of the theories about why some lesbians marry are interesting and may hold true today.
Observation #4- This article distinguishes between feminine-presenting lesbians and masculine-presenting ones. By acknowledging that feminine-presenting outnumber masculine (is this true today..hmm?), it dispels the typical close-minded ideas that women are lesbians because they either want to be men or were abused somehow. Again, this flies in the face of what we believed about people “back then.”
Observation #5- We really have romanticized views of how conservative people were in the past. Most of the time, the past is colored as the “good ole, moral days” and that nowadays we’re just two light bulbs away from an orgy. But when I read articles like this, read East of Eden by Steinbeck with my mouth agape, and recheck the publishing date of Manchild in the Promised Land by Claude Brown, I realize that our remembering of history is just fantasy and that we are doing nothing new AT. ALL.
What are your thoughts?
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10 Responses to “1953 JET Magazine Cover – Why Lesbians Marry (heterosexual men)”
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It was a great article and I am kind of shocked that this was on the cover of JET back then! People are still in “people bondage” regarding their sexuality! People bondage is when you live your life to satisfy others oppose to living YOUR life. There are so many fake relationships/marriages is ridiculous! DO YOU! The only time I care about what others are doing in their home is when it involves children and animals. Homosexuality/Bisexuality between two adults DOES NOT hurt ANYONE! LIVE….LOVE…..DO AND BE HAPPY PEOPLE!
1. I wouldn’t call this article “not conservative.” It referred to lesbians as deviants throughout. 2. Jet magazine (and Ebony for that matter) was obsessed with lesbianism and “introverts” (butch women) at the time. A look through the archives would show more articles on the subject shows that they considered it a problem in the Black community and something to be cured.
This goes for the nation as a whole at the time. To give it some historical context America wasn’t outright the conservative, suburban, “Leave it to Beaver”-esque landscape popular culture pretends it was. It was *trying* to be that. Divorce rates skyrocketed at the time. As did treatments for “sexual deviants,” women who wanted more than housewife status, and… ya’ll do remember Jim Crow right? The U.S. had just come off of a war, depression and the residuals of a major sexual revolution (Not even matched by the free love ’60s). Nonconformity = communism and there was this thing called the Cold War.
Black folks were not exempt from this kind of attitude. In fact in an Ebony Magazine article around this time a Jazz singer who was openly gay in the 30s publicly renounced her lesbianism. Her name was Gladys Bently. History on her here: http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Bentley/BentleyBio.html
Great reply!
She is not even wearing a two piece. She is wearing bottoms with a sign as her top, which makes it even more provocative. And she is giving me Beyonce all day!!
There’s nothing new under the sun.
It’s a very forward thinking article. Not at all backwards! I do believe history does sanitize earlier eras. Just think, in the past there were no TMZ cameras, twitter, Facebook, etc. People kept their private lives private: JFK’s love life was much whispered but not confirmed, mistresses were a normally accepted thing and homosexuality was common but not talked about.
I think people need to just live the life that makes them happy because at the end of the day that is what is important. Some people may not necessarily agree with homosexuality but if it doesn’t apply to YOU mind your own business and stay out of everyone else life. Do you and let the rest do them. End of story!
A grandmother, not mine fool.. lol but hell if that’s wrong, i don’t wanna be right!!! lol who knows what is wrong and right now a days… we are conditioned to believe a bunch of bullshit and don’t forget, misery loves company. I say if it makes you feel good, do it!!! Hell what supposedly is the right thing to do, sure don’t seem to make people happy or rich. It seems as though the people who just live and do them, succeed the most. Don’t get me started HUNTAY.. oh BTW I loves you!
Come on now, it is like when someone dies, they always say he was a good man or woman.. GTFOH… I can’t wait for the funeral when someone says that Mutha Fudgecake was the biggest P.O.S. Hell you are talking about a time when people went to the club with the sole purpose of finding someone to F–k that night and w/o protection might I add. I had a grandmother tell me that her b/f slept with her boyfriend while they were in the same bed and she got pregnant.. as my x-mother in law used to always say.. we ain’t doing nothing new.. all this ish been done before. We are just more open with it now a days. Nothing is a secret no mo!
you’re grandma had no standards. lol