Keep his secrets, massage his shoulders, and stay pretty doing it!

In which the Throbbers delve into the past to see what it says about the future. Vintage Playboys? Yes, please!

Vintage References

Textbook | Women's Institute Library of Cookery [1918]

A very good analysis of how woman were always smart and when they were relegated to the home they turned homemaking into a science. It really is a useful book filled with economic reasoning and biological explanation. It's from the 1910s... before the 50s an 60s really made homemaking easy (home appliances)... So this shit is detailed! It's also from back when woman were in charge of household finances, and you needed to know things like weight of a chicken - to see if your butcher is scamming you - you know, important things.

The whole thing is giving Gina Ethan Frome vibes.

We don't know who wrote this book, by the way... If you do, let us know!?!

It has some standard sexism (everyone is a housewife!) and racism ("hot climate people" *cough brown people* don't have a balanced diets and are thus inferior).

Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook [1950]

Basic vintage cookbook for all the prep you need for starring in the Great British Bake Off. Some things we learned:

Cookie is spelled with a y, which is weird. Cooky. Cookey? Who knows.

Bummer that Betty Crocker was invented by a man...

Vintage food photography is really not good... Does not look appetizing, especially the gelatin *barf*

Not too sexist... Same as todays cookbooks (so kind of super sexist)

Hannah stole both of her cook books from her sorority. Thanks girls!!!!

Betty Crocker's Hostess Cookbook [1960s]

Its really quite a useful book if you're going for an Mrs. Degree

Only talks about men in regards to grilling (which is still true, men are obsessed with grilling). Only Maisie is into grilling... all the rest of the Throbbers have let our dads handle that shit.

Be careful about grill brushes! Those metal bristles can be trapped inside you forever.

Fifteen [1956]

A book about a fifteen year old girl who wants to get a boyfriend... So she does!

She meets a boy who delivers horse meat for dogs... So obviously he's a keeper!

Surprisingly, the scenes in the book with her boyfriend (Stan) were fine. The scenes with other girls were sad and gross. A lot of belittling single-dom and hanging out with friends. Friends first everyone! We do not recommend not having friends.

Her rivalry with Marcy was particularly bad for women everywhere. Marcy is the perfect 50s girl:

* driving in a convertible* tan* blonde* cashmere sweater* pearls* smiling like she's better than you (cause she is)

Marcy and Jane (the main character) should really bang.

Interesting tidbits: She actually babysits as like an almost legit job...