Earlier this week, came the news that controversial 1970s sex education handbook The Little Red Schoolbook was being reissued. The book, which came under fire for suggesting that – shock horror! – masturbation wouldn’t make you turn blind, speaks a lot of sense. So do any of the other decades’ sex tips also stack up in today’s modern world? We decided to find out.
‘Are you popular?’ was part of a series of instructional films created by university professors to help young people with navigating the difficult dating scene in the 1940s. (Side note: we like the fact uni professors actually cared whether their students were sleeping around.) So do its mantras have any place now?
**1. Always look nice **
The men in the video decide they like a woman because of the way she dresses ‘when compared to weird people’. To look like a chic 1940s gal you will need: a sensible-length pleated skirt, a knitted sweater, a bullet bra, and painstakingly pin curled hair. Which, when you think about it, wouldn’t look terribly out of place in Shoreditch.
2. Don’t sleep around
The video berates one woman for ‘thinking she has the key to popularity – parking in cars with boys at night’, which is a fabulously-archaic euphemism. Apparently girls who ‘park in cars’ are not really popular – ‘not even with the boys they park with’. Everyone likes the nice girls because they’ve heard no scandal about them, which seems rather bland. Nothing is said about the boys who participate, of course, this era being the golden age of the double standard.
**3. Men: Don’t call a girl really late and ask her out **
Apparently she’ll feel like a last resort and girls like time to get ready. Yep, still feeling this.
4. Men: Don’t leave decisions up to women
Letting women decide where to go on a date puts them on the spot, which they don’t like. Not great advice in 2014. The man in the video suggests that they should ‘go with the gang to a skating party and weenie roast’, which sounds utterly filthy, but was actually just ice skating followed by eating hot dogs.
**5. Don’t make telephone conversations go on for hours **
Who makes calls these days anyway, in this the age of Snapchat?
**6. Keep a date calendar **
Making a note of forthcoming dates is a good idea, but the voiceover is brilliantly patronising in suggesting women also write themselves a note saying ‘do hair and nails’. Ladies should apparently do this every night – even when they don’t have a date. Because you never know when one might pop up. Clearly, women had a lot more time on their hands before the internet.
**7. Introduce your date to your parents on the first date
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This would come across as a bit intense today. We cannot imagine a similar conversation happening on Tinder. ‘Hi do you want to go out for a drink AND ALSO MEET MY ENTIRE FAMILY SO THEY CAN SEE IF YOU’RE SUITABLE FOR MARRAIGE???’
8. Give your date food
It’s important for a ’40s lady to repay her date at the end, so the film suggests giving them milk and brownies as a thank you for entertaining them, which all sounds very wholesome. We say bring back free cake for everyone.
9. Think twice before ‘going steady’
The reason given is that it’s too challenging to think of new ideas for dates when you’re with the same person for a long time. Beware the monotony of monogamy.
10. ‘Home, parents, and personality all help boys and girls to be popular’
Apparently, your house and parents outrank your personality in the world of 1940s dating. Which is all well and good until you think about the fact you’ll be having sex in a single bed.
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Picture: David Parker / Hulton Archive
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.