Growing up in the 60's was a bit of a challenge in itself. We were a generation that threw off and challenged nearly everything our parents and society, stood for. But we had to listen to a lot of crap, here is some of it.
"Your dress/skirt is too short. What will people think?" Of course they meant 'what will our friends, neighbors, all in the older generation think? We will be told we're bad parents. Oh my.
" Your hair is too long, and what do you mean you are dating a person of color?" They meant, again, what will the neighbors say? What will Uncle Fred and Aunt Sarah say or think? On one hand our parents, in the North, would preach equality to us, until it hit up close and personal anyway. How long does hair have to be before it's 'too long' anyway?
"What do you mean you're going to live together? What in hell do you mean you're having a baby?" This was the ultimate sin in the 1960's. Unforgivable and just plain embarrassing to parents of all walks of life. OMG!
Women were told: "You'll be a used woman. No decent man will ever want you. What about the children? Do you know how tough biracial children will have it in our society? The children will be illegitimate. This was a biggie back then.
Let's start with 'you'll be a used woman or marked woman.'
Did this mean women were 'marked' like some hit person was gunning for them? What in hell did 'used' mean? If guys slept all around, somehow being a *Ahem* 'virgin' was not expected of them, worse yet, it was forgiven. 'Boys will be boys' seemed to cover a multitude of sins for men.
'No decent man will want you' was assuming the man you were living with was not a decent one.
How about 'illegitimate?' What makes a child 'legitimate?' Oh yes, having some man's name. I guess your parents' name was no longer legitimate or any good anymore. Yet you, as a woman, used that perfectly good, maiden name. Imagine that.
We were told 'we would go to Hell.' But if you questioned why All funerals you ever attended, even if you knew the person was horrible in life, they still never got preached into Hell, adults had no answers for that one.
"A woman's place is in the kitchen." Yes, watching my Mom slave all day in the kitchen on a holiday, while the men drank beer, smoked and sat on their collective asses in another room. Don't think so!
"If your friends jump off a cliff, are you going to follow them?" Actually, no, Mom. You did a pretty good job of teaching me to think for myself. That is why we aren't seeing eye to eye right now.
Do you recall some crazy crap your parents used to say to you? Do you find yourself repeating any of that crazy crap to your own kids, even if you vowed not to?
.jpg)
