Bachelor Girl

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