inequality in, 28
maiden name retained in, 29, 74
male drinking and, 31
male preferences and, 115, 119
of new women, 115, 119
new women’s rejection of, 115–16, 117
as 1950s norm, 183–86, 187, 188, 189–96, 206, 209, 252
in 1960s, 208, 209, 211, 222, 223, 232
in 1970s, 234
in 1980s and 1990s, 250, 251–56
as oppressive institution, 27
in postwar period, 170–71, 175
rates of, 30, 116, 151, 184
sex in, 142, 145
shop girls and, 89, 97
single blessedness vs., 25–30, 31–32, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42, 45, 53
upper-class women and, 18–19
married working women, 150, 215, 247
Marvin’s Room (McPherson), 52–53
Mary Tyler Moore Show, The, 233–34, 258
Mead, Margaret, 191
Meehan, Diana, 227
Meet Millie, 197
Menehin, Thomas, 155
Millay, Edna St. Vincent, 101, 115
Miller, Jean Baker, 239
Miller’s New York as It Is, 72
Millet, Kate, 237n
Mills, C. Wright, 103
Milton, John, 27
Minister’s Charge, The (Howells), 64
Minor Characters (Johnson), 200, 205
Miss America pageants, 132
Modern Woman: The Lost Sex (Farnham and Lundberg), 172–73
Molière, 16
Moore, Colleen, 113, 130–31, 133
Morley, Christopher, 55, 101–102, 103–4, 107
Moskowitz, Belle, 121
murders, single girl, 227–31, 240–41
Murphy Brown, 248–49
Muses, 37
Muzzy, Aretemus B., 26
Nashoba commune, 35
neurotic husband hunters, 157, 172–75
conduct guides for, 174–75
as half a human unit, 173–74, 186
new dependency, 140–41, 150
new spinsters, 29, 138–47
families as financial drain on, 140–41
lifestyle of, 138–39
limitations of, 145–47
as socially pathetic, 145
see also sexology
new women, 9, 114–38
causes supported by, 159–60
college education of, 114, 115, 116, 117, 119, 127
criminal tendencies of, 121
feminist meetings organized by, 116–17
as Gibson girls, 9, 124–26, 129
marriage rejected by, 115–16, 117
marriages of, 115, 119
meaning of term, 114–15
popular vs. reformist, 118–21, 134
purchasing power of, 125–26
sexology of, 117–18
smoking by, 114–15, 116, 130, 132, 133, 134
tea dances of, 120–21, 127
white slavery and, 122–24, 125
see also flappers
New York in Slices (Foster), 65
Nightingale, Florence, 25, 26, 270
calling of, 35, 41, 43
life of, 40–44, 47–48
marriage as viewed by, 25, 42
marriage proposals rejected by, 31–32 1950s, 6, 179, 181–206, 233, 237, 254
Barbizon hotel in, 194–96
Beat generation in, 204–6
beauty advertising in, 191–93
birthrate in, 184, 188
breasts emphasized in, 192
college education in, 185, 188, 190
competitors of wives in, 189–90
conduct guides in, 200–202
European travel in, 186
films of, 186, 193, 197–200
hair dye in, 191–92
husband-hunting techniques in, 190–93
ideal attributes in, 191
lifestyle of, 182–83
marriage as norm in, 183–86, 187, 188, 189–96, 206, 209, 252
marriage rate in, 184
moving to cities in, 186–90, 200–206
relocating surplus women in, 188–89
sex in, 188, 198–204
sexual double standard in, 199–200
television in, 173, 183, 196–99
“togetherness” in, 186, 209, 220, 252 1960s, 208–32
adoptions in, 235
alarmed reactions in, 213
anonymity in, 220
autonomous girl in, 211–14
available careers in, 214, 215, 217–19, 221, 229
films in, 209
living arrangements in, 208–9, 212, 214, 220, 221, 223–24, 225
moving to cities in, 215–17, 220
the Pill in, 209–11
rate of change in, 232
reportage in, 218n, 219, 221, 225–27
sex in, 210–13, 222–23
single girl murders in, 227–31, 240–41
single parents in, 222, 223, 225
singles industry in, 220–21
singles scene in, 219–22
spinsters eulogized in, 214–15
television in, 218, 226–27
1970s, 229–41, 256
changing attitudes in, 232–37
dangers in, 229–31, 240–41
drug addiction in, 241
films in, 230–32
financial inequities in, 239
lifestyles in, 234–35
psychological problems in, 239–40
public mudslinging in, 237–39
reportage in, 236–37
sardonic humor in, 231
sex in, 231–32
shopping bag ladies in, 241
shortage of desirable men in, 237–38
single parents in, 235
singles scene in, 240
television in, 233–34
women’s movement in, 208, 233, 234, 236, 251
1980s and 1990s, 237, 247–56
baby brides in, 251–56, 258
biological clock in, 247, 250–51
depression in, 250
films in, 249
housework in, 254
incompetence with children in, 249–50
safety sought in, 255, 258
sex in, 250
shortage of desirable men in, 250
television in, 248–49
weddings in, 253, 254, 255
Nixon, Pat, 236
Notes on Nursing (Nightingale), 47
Novak, Kim, 197, 203
Odd Women, The (Gissing), 48–50
office workers, 9, 19, 97–104, 130, 165, 214
advice guides for, 99–100
business schools for, 101–2
in Depression era, 152, 164
free-time activities of, 101–2, 103–4
in 1960s, 214, 215, 219
number of, 103
strategies of, 104
as suspected socialists, 100–101
working conditions of, 98
O’Harro, Mike, 220
old maids, 16–18, 21, 22, 25, 53, 212, 214
bad teeth of, 17, 18, 139
“One Old Maid” (Harland), 51–52
Only a Shopgirl (Sterling), 94
On the Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Wollstonecraft), 38
Oregon Land Donation Act, 22n
“out work,” 18, 57
Pabst, Charles, 136
Parent, Gail, 231
Parkhurst, Genevieve, 160
Parsons, Talcott, 186n
Pauline religious order, 34–35
Peiss, Kathy, 70
Penny, Virginia, 61
penny press, 56, 62–66
personal-advice columns in, 68–69
urban sketch in, 63–64
Persuasion (Austen), 24
Pickford, Mary, 98
Pill, the, 209–11
Playboy, 192, 193, 243–44
Polykoff, Shirley, 191–92
Pope, Alexander, 17
Porter, Sylvia, 213–14
postwar period, 169–79
assertive women in, 171, 185
bobby-soxers in, 178
college class of 1934 in, 178–79
divorce rate in, 170, 175–76
divorcée paranoia in, 176–77
films in, 177–78, 179
GI Bill in, 186
majority gender in, 171–72
man shortage in, 171, 172, 176, 183
workforce in, 169–70
see also neurotic husband hunters