by Betsy Israel
Herland (Gilman), 34
Herodotus, 37
Herrick, Genevieve Forbes, 154
Heterodoxy, 117
Hickok, Lorena, 154
Hoffe, Sally, 222, 223
Hoffert, Emily, 227–28
Hoffman, Alice, 176
Hoffman, Carol A., 229
Holding Their Own (Scharf), 160
holidays, 260–61
homeless women, 154–56, 159
Hospital Sketches (Alcott), 45
“Hot Corn: Life Scenes in New York” (Robinson), 66
Howe, Marie Jenny, 117
Howells, William Dean, 64
How I Became Hettie Jones (Jones), 205
How to Be Happy While Single (Van Ever), 174–75
Humphreys, Mary Gay, 87–88, 96, 97, 105
Hungry Hearts (Yezierska), 67
Hutchins, Grace, 154
immigrants, 33, 36, 56–57, 62, 109, 122
immigrant working girls, 9, 56–84, 96–97
American style embraced by, 60, 66–69
assimilation of, 60, 67
banged hairstyles of, 69
beauty advice sought by, 68–69
Bowery gals, 56–57, 70–75, 127, 229
clothing of, 61, 67–68, 74–75
daily life of, 78–84
domestic servants, 55, 58, 60–61, 73
factory girls, 9, 56, 58–60, 61, 68, 73, 77, 79, 83, 85, 86, 87–88, 91, 94, 97
family homes of, 57–58, 66, 67, 75–76
fantasy names of, 10
in films, 66, 67
Irish, 55, 58, 60, 72–73
living quarters of, 58, 66–67, 79–80
male abusiveness risked by, 70–72
as moral calamity, 57
pay handed over by, 58, 70, 140
in penny press, 62–66
pidgin dialects of, 87–88
prostitution of, 58, 59, 74, 75, 78, 83, 94
salaries of, 76–77
strikes staged by, 59
“treating” of, 70–71
working conditions of, 58–61, 81
Improvised Woman, The (Clements), 8
Independent, 50, 104–5, 108, 115, 122
“Independent Woman and Other Lies, The” (Roiphe), 255–56
Internet, 244–45
intersexuality, 142–43
inversion, sexual, 143
“It,” 130–31
It (film), 97, 131, 132
Ivory Soap girl, 126, 129
Jacob A. Stamler, 105
Jaffe, Rona, 206
James, Henry, 23, 114
Jane Eyre (Brontë), 20
Janeway, Elizabeth, 39
Jarman, Rufus, 185
Jennie Gerhardt (Dreiser), 53
Job, The (Lewis), 146
job stealers, 150, 152, 156
Johnson, Joyce Glassman, 200, 204, 205
Jones, Hettie Cohen, 204, 205
journalists, female, 152–53, 154
June Bride, 177
Kate and Leopold, 263–64
Katz, Susan Leslie, 16
Keller, Helen, 40
Kellogg, Elenore, 154
Kerouac, Jack, 181, 204, 205
Kinsey Report on Female Sexuality, 188
Kirk, Virginia, 134–35
Kitty Foyle (Morley), 55, 101–2, 103–4, 106–7
Klemesrud, Judy, 227, 229
Knudson, Kneith, 144
“Labor in New York” (Foster), 66
Lady Audley’s Secret (Braddon), 48
Lambert, Eleanor, 191
Larcom, Lucy, 26, 31, 33
Lauder, Estée, 191
Laughlin, Clara E., 86
Lawrence, Josephine, 141
laws, 22n, 77, 120
abortion, 31, 109
on contraceptives, 31, 109
credit, 234
divorce, 27, 109
draft, 170
Girl Terms Act, 204
inheritance, 48
Mann Act, 124
marriage, 27
on married women holding jobs, 150
suffrage, 36, 45, 119, 126
on women’s smoking, 114–15
on workplace restrictions, 169
lesbians, 10–11, 28–29, 188, 249
mannish, 143
in sexology, 143–44, 145
WACs as, 169
LeSueur, Meridel, 155
Letters to a Business Girl (Saunders), 99–100, 102–3
Letter to Three Wives, A 177
Lewis, Sinclair, 146, 163
Liberty: A Better Husband (Chambers-Schiller), 25–26
Linton, Eliza Lynn, 38
living arrangements, 58, 66–67, 79–80, 89
all-girl hotels, 106–7, 194–96
latchkey, 104–7
in 1960s, 208–9, 212, 214, 220, 221, 223–24, 225
see also communal living
Long Day, The (Richardson), 55, 78–83, 84
Looking for Mr. Goodbar, 8, 230–31
love letters, female, 29–30
Lowell girls, 31, 83
Luce, Clare Booth, 39–40
Lundberg, Ferdinand, 172–73
McCarthy, Mary, 151
MacDonald, Dwight, 199
macho career woman, 248–49
MacLaine, Shirley, 185
Macpherson, Annie, 35
McPherson, Scott, 52–53
Main Street (Lewis), 146
Mann Act, 124
Mannequin, 140
mannish lesbians, 143
man shortages, 171, 172, 176, 183, 237–38, 250
Marjorie Morningstar, 186, 198
marriage, 2, 3, 102, 115–16, 129, 248
in British common law, 27
dangers of, 31, 89
Depression era and, 151, 161–62
domestic feminists’ view of, 27–28
as duty, 26–27
flappers and, 129, 135, 136, 137
of immigrant working girls, 62
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 dep
endency, 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
Power, Susan C., 69
Private Secretary, 197
prostitutes, prostitution, 31, 32, 105, 107, 130, 168, 204
earnings of, 77
of immigrant working girls, 58, 59, 74, 75–78, 83, 94
as vagrancy (loitering), 76, 106
white slavery and, 122–24
purchase brides, 20
Quaaludes, 241
Quinn, Roseanne, 230
“race suicide,” 33, 109–10, 111, 116, 142
rackets, 88–89, 92, 93, 96, 103, 107, 120, 124
radio soap operas, 178
Rainy Day Club, 90
rape, 70–71, 155, 241
Rear Window, 193
Reisman, David, 179
Rhys, Jean, 164
Richardson, Dorothy, 55, 78–83, 84, 194
Roberts, Julia, 40
Robinson, Grace, 154
Robinson, Solon, 66
Robles, Richard, 227–28
Roiphe, Katie, 255–56
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 36, 40, 154, 155, 159
Roosevelt, Theodore, 33, 109, 116
Rosenteur, Phyllis, 211
Rosie the Riveter, 166, 167
rubbering, 88, 91
Rules, The (Fein and Schneider), 258–59
Sagan, Françoise, 185–86
Salem witch trials, 17, 21
Salinger, J. D., 198
Sands, Alma, 71–72
Sanger, Margaret, 115
Sarmiento, Domingo, 29
Saunders, Florence Wenderoth, 99–100, 102–3
<
br /> Sawyer, Lanah, 70–71
Sayers, Dorothy L., 17
Scharf, Lois, 160
Scudder, Vida, 26
Seberg, Jean, 186
Sedgwick, Catherine M., 27
settlement houses, 35–37, 143
Seventh Heaven (Hoffman), 176
Sex and the City, 1, 262–63
Sex and the Single Girl (Brown), 212
sexology, 111, 117–18, 141–45, 156
frigidity in, 142, 144, 145, 172, 198
lesbianism in, 143–44, 145
typology of, 142–43
Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York (Parent), 231
shop girls, shoppies, 9, 84–98, 103, 127, 128, 232
“blue Mondays” of, 91
clothing of, 85–86, 89–91
controlled facial expressions of, 86, 94–95
critics of, 90–91
dances attended by, 88–89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 96
dress reform desired by, 90–91
education of, 97
“fairy days” of, 92, 94
in films, 97
free-time activities of, 88–89, 95–96
living quarters of, 89, 105
male sales clerks vs., 86
nascent feminism of, 93
newsletters of, 92–93
salaries of, 86
store social clubs formed by, 92, 94
teaching profession entered by, 97
“treating” of, 88, 94
upper-class women vs., 93–94
working conditions of, 85–88, 91, 92, 94–95
youth of, 91–92
shopping bag ladies, 241
Showalter, Elaine, 39
Show Boat, 23n
single blessedness, 25–48, 53, 114
exemplars of, 40–48
marriage proposals rejected in, 26, 31–32
public taunts endured in, 32–33
special friends in, 28–30
see also communal living
single girl murders, 227–31, 240–41
“Singleness of Heart” (Katz), 16
single parents, 222, 223, 235
singles bars, 222, 229
singles industry, 220–21
singles scene, 219–22, 240
Single Woman, The (Rosenteur), 211
siren, 137–38
Sister Carrie (Dreiser), 8, 59
slacker spinsters, 256–59
“slumming,” 64, 73, 93–94
Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll, 30, 36
smoking, 114–15, 116, 130, 132, 133, 134, 143, 158
Smollett, Tobias, 16–17
Southgate, Eliza, 25
Speck, Richard, 228
spieling, 88–89, 93, 128
spinsters, 9, 14–53, 56, 57, 105–6, 109, 110, 129, 135–36, 190, 197, 219
behavior required of, 23–24
courtesan training proposed for, 21
deportation proposed for, 20–21, 23, 32
Depression era and, 161–62
in early America, 21–25
in 1851 British census, 19–21
in 1855
U.S. census, 23
first appearance of, 15–16, 18
free labor provided by, 139, 186n
in industrial revolution, 18–21
as insane, 16, 29, 53
lesbians and, 11, 28–29
in literature, 14, 16–17, 19–20, 24, 48–53
