From private to public? Changing perceptions of young women in Seventeen magazine,1955–1965

Abstract

As a form of popular culture, magazines provide a lens through which historians can examine the dominant attitudes and values of a society. This article examines the portrayal of young American women in the popular teen magazine, Seventeen magazine, during the period 1955–1965. The study documents and analyses the messages conveyed within the magazine regarding ideals concerning feminine behaviour and appearance. Seventeen provides an opportunity to investigate both the production and reception of the cultural ideals for young American women as the decade of the 1950s ends and that of the 1960s begins. I argue that the letters-to-the-editor represented a public platform in which readers could voice opinions, express identities, engage in debates and communicate with each other. In this way, it is possible to see a change in the framing of women’s roles over time; a change that occurred not via a purely ‘top-down’ processes, but via and exchange relationship between Editors, writers and readers, and indeed between the readers themselves.

Introduction: the shift from the private to the public sphere in teenage magazines

‘Brave’ Angie Evans is just too much. I believe that the Negroes should have anything equal to what we have, but separately! If God had wanted us to mix, he would certainly have made us the same color, wouldn’t he? As for ‘Brave Angie Evans’, I think the reason she disagreed was to get herself a little publicity. Am I right, Angie? I only hope that someday she will wake up and realize how wrong she is. That goes for everyone who believes in integration. I do not expect to see this in print. You haven’t got the nerve. (Seventeen, 1959: 4)

Published in February 1959, this letter featured in the ‘Your Letters’ section of Seventeen magazine. In April of the same year, the magazine was inundated with responses to the author’s opinions. So numerous were these rejoinders that the editors issued a disclaimer stating, ‘Never has anything in our letters column drawn a response like [this]’, noting that the printed letters constituted merely a ‘… few representative samples’ (Seventeen, 1959: 4). As was the case with most letters-to-the-editor, the letter in question was responding to an article in a previous issue. This exchange between Editor and readers illustrates the role that popular magazines play in defining socially acceptable behaviour and the portrayal of youth. As cultural ‘benchmarks’, magazines provide ‘values, skills, and social accomplishments’ that shape an individual’s perception of reality and their role within society. Reader responses epitomise the concept of culture as, ‘a mode of personal expression and communication’ (Halliwell, 2007: 13–14).

Sherrie Inness (1998) argues that teenage cultural discourse, ‘in a wide variety of formats … helps to form a girl’s experience of what it means to be a girl and, later, a woman’ (p. 2). Researching popular female teenage culture is, therefore, a valuable contribution to the history of American culture and to the history of American women. Despite some research into women’s magazines, there remains a paucity of research concerning popular teenage magazines, particularly for the period of 1955–1965. Recently, however, the study of ‘teenzines’ has gained traction. Perhaps owing to its enduring popularity, or its status as the first among many, Seventeen magazine is the subject of most historical inquiries into teenzines (Evans and Rutberg, 1991; Massoni, 2010). Although the aims and the content of the magazine fluctuated in accordance with those of the editor-in-chief, Seventeen’s popularity remained consistent. As such, it provides a useful lens through which historians can examine the dominant attitudes and values of society. As well as reflecting such attitudes and values, magazines simultaneously shape those of their readers. For this reason, Seventeen magazine is a valuable source in examining both the prescribed and actual perceptions and portrayals of young women.

As well as analysing of the production of teenage culture, it is important to consider the reception of culture. Teenagers are not simply passive in response to messages. They, themselves, play a role in the complex process by which popular teenage culture changes over time. Janice Radway (1991) argues that attention to the reception of culture permits a ‘multi-focused approach that attempts to do justice to the way historical subjects understand and partially control their own behaviour in a social and cultural context’. The letters-to-the-editor printed within Seventeen magazine represent a means to investigate the response of readers to the messages and portrayals that they were consuming, shedding light on what might be seen as an ‘exchange relationship’ between the Editors and readers, and between readers. Kelly Schrum (1998) reflects that,

Seventeen’s relationship with its readers is difficult to assess. The magazine welcomed, even solicited, readers’ comments and reactions to the magazine … The magazine listened to their compliments and complaints in shaping and reshaping the image of the teenage girl it displayed for reader consumption, even as it maintained control of that image. (p. 149)

The evaluation of readers’ letters mediates the top-down approach that cultural historians sometimes pursue. Bland and Cross (2004: 5) contend that letters are a genre for self-expression, empowering invisible agents of political history and evidence of the wish to communicate and express opinions. Nonetheless, teenage magazines possess certain limitations. Ultimately, editors retained control over what was and was not published. They could act as ‘gatekeepers’, either filtering out issues that they did not want discussed, or ‘framing’ issues in a particular way. Therefore, the printed letters represent only the responses editors chose to publish. Nonetheless, the excerpt referenced at the beginning of this article suggests that Seventeen editors were not afraid to print controversial letters, critical of their editorial views. Thus, whether or not the editors exercised some form of ‘control’, there is no doubt that the magazine can be said to have facilitated some kind of ‘exchange relationship’ between editors and readers. Another limitation pertains to representation. I do not argue that the representations within Seventeen speak for all young American women of the 1950s and 1960s – indeed, there is not a single African-American model pictured during this period. Seventeen’s demographic, ‘were mostly white, middle- and upper-middle-class; 63% of their fathers worked as business executives, owners, professionals, or in other white-collar occupations and an additional 19% earned their living as skilled workers’ (Schrum, 1998: 139) and as such any conclusions drawn are to a certain extent limited to this demographic.

The dialogue hinted at in the letters also highlights the dynamic processes by which perceptions and values change over time. Thus, I argue that Seventeen served as a platform for young American women to voice opinions and form bonds of commonality with fellow teenagers. This view removes teenage magazines from their traditional domain of the private sphere, and locates them in the public sphere, traditionally a domain reserved for men during this period.

The evidence produced by analysing the letters pages of Seventeen suggests that the common stereotype of domestic, quiescent and ditzy young American women during the 1950s and 1960s is not entirely accurate. Although this may be the case for some, this research suggests that readers were not passive recipients of the ideologies and cultural frames espoused by Seventeen magazine, but actively engaged in a discourse regarding personal and public issues. This discourse, in turn, led to some kind of ‘re-framing’ of how young women perceived themselves, challenging the common depiction of American teenagers – and women – as a homogeneous group, and supporting the important argument posed by Joanne Meyerowitz (1994): ‘While some women fit the stereotype, many others did not … many women were not white, middle-class, married and suburban; and many white, middle-class, married, suburban women were neither wholly domestic nor quiescent’ (p. 2). The evidence also suggests that attitudes regarding young women and expected roles underwent a transition during this period, a change that is similarly reflected in the responses of readers.

The research for this article is based on a sample of letters from the ‘Your Letters’ section of the April and July issues for the years 1955–1965. In each issue, there were an average of eleven letters, equalling 247 letters in total. Generally, letters addressed articles featured in a prior issue, usually printed within the previous two months. On average, two to three letters were assigned to an article, although in some instances, this varied. I examine the articles within each category chronologically, asking questions regarding the portrayal of young women, the kinds of messages contained within the article, and the readers’ responses. I also assess connections between the developments with Seventeen and American society at that time.

Changing gender perceptions: the shift from ‘a boy’s point of view’

Forty-three per cent of the articles sampled concern boys and dating. For baby boomers of the 1950s and 1960s, dating was a key part of adolescence, accompanied by a host of do’s and don’ts, which collectively formed proper dating etiquette. Analysing the articles regarding boys and dating is useful in gauging the expected roles and behaviour for young women in relation to their male peers. Similarly, analysis of the attitudes represented in reader-responses demonstrates the engagement of readers with views regarding such expectations.

Many of the articles relating to boys and/or dating combined prescriptive and proscriptive writing, informing young women of what they should and should not do to gain the affections of their male peers. A regular feature of Seventeen exemplifying this notion was the ‘From a Boy’s Point of View’ column penned by teen contributor Jimmy Wescott. The column claimed to answer queries about, ‘what boys like, dislike [and] think about girls’. Illana Nash (2006) argues that the employment of a masculine voice of address, ‘is designed to make girls identify with men, to pity them, and at last, to become so ashamed of their ‘foibles’ that they repent and labour to make themselves more user-friendly to boys’ (p. 14). The general tone of the column was one of reprove and superiority. For example, in 1955, a reader complained that ‘Boys pass me up for the girls they complain about’, referring to ‘sloppy’ girls who wear, ‘stretched out bobby sox and dirty bucks’. Wescott (1955) replied, ‘People looking for dates don’t want to be challenged, they want to be reassured … you may be pricing yourself out of the market’, implying that the onus is on the girl to change her behaviour, rather than wait for a boy to accept her as she is. The letters in this column demonstrate the willingness of the majority of girls to please boys. One reader wrote, ‘I believe it is the duty of every girl to keep men happy … to be willing to make sacrifices’. Interestingly, Wescott (1955) commented that this letter came from, ‘… that controversial type, a Southern girl’ (p. 4), suggesting that this traditional view of a woman’s expected behaviour was not universal among teenagers, but was instead rather more prevalent in the South. Moreover, the descriptive used implies that this attitude was under threat.

This suggestion fits with historian Beth Bailey’s (1988) argument that conventions of American courtship were noticeably affected by post-war changes in relations between men and women in society more generally. Thus, ‘teen-zines’ were not immune from broader societal changes. Factors influencing American courtship included new roles for women in the public sphere and their gradually increasing economic autonomy, as well as changing notions about appropriate behaviour for men and women. Bailey (1988) contends that the developments of strict etiquette ‘were concerned with controlling these power struggles, with denying change’ (p. 59). This idea is explicitly addressed in a 1957 article entitled ‘Etiquette: Prom Primer’, in which six boys answered questions on the correct etiquette for prom. This article exemplifies the idea suggested by Bailey (1988) that ‘While convention does not determine experience, it does structure experience. Convention supplies a frame of reference; it is a public system that lends meaning to private acts’ (p. 6).

The sometimes-conflicting answers in ‘Etiquette: Prom Primer’, indicate the flux in which teens of the 1950s found themselves, a reflection of the paradoxical nature of American society at this time (Halliwell, 2007: 11). When asked how they felt about the prevalent custom of dancing with one girl all evening, some respondents agreed that they would welcome the chance to dance with other girls, while others felt that ‘You ask a girl to a dance to be with her – all evening’ (Hatch, 1957). The article also covered the highly contentious issue of who paid for the date. Proms were notoriously costly, yet when asked if there was any way a girl could help cut own a boy’s expenses without causing a blow to the boy’s pride, the general consensus was that ‘The boy should know how much he can spend and should take care of everything. She should leave all the money affairs to him’ (Hatch, 1957). This attitude lends weight to the idea that despite the increasing financial autonomy of young women, dating ‘rules’ still aligned with the notion of males as providers. Thus, ‘conventions based on man-as-provider model clashed more and more with the realities of men’s and women’s lives’ (Bailey, 1988: 4). Arguably the most explicit example of the proscriptive nature of this article is the direct question posed: ‘What is a boy’s idea of what a prom date should not be?’ The subsequent answers all involved a description of supposedly ‘female’ flaws that ought to be avoided.

The detailing of ‘female’ flaws present in ‘Etiquette: Prom Primer’ was part of a wider trend evidenced in articles concerning boys and dating. To inform readers how best to attract boys, several articles emphasised negative aspects of female behaviour as a means of instructing girls on what not to do. For example, Wescott (1956) commented on the supposed practice of keeping a boy waiting, ‘just to make [him] squirm’ to indicate that the boy did not rate very highly in the eyes of his date. In addition, the author accused girls of using a date as a pass to get into a dance, only to subsequently, ‘make eyes at all the other fellows’. The portrayal of young women here depicted them as cunning and selfish, using boys for their own machinations. The following month, one reader implored, ‘Don’t feel bad, Jimmy. You can’t expect to please everyone, and be assured that somebody loves you!’ (Wescott, 1956: 4) Essentially defending Wescott; this letter engaged with other readers as well as the author. The reference to previous letters implies that not all of Seventeen’s readers agreed with Wescott’s views. A similar situation occurred six years later when, once again, a fan took to the ‘Your Letters’ section to defend Wescott’s response to a request from a girl asking for advice on how to let a boy down gently. Rather than provide a direct answer, Wescott gave considerable attention to informing girls of the numerous ways girls could achieve the same result without meaning to – that is, how the flawed behaviour of girls justifies a boy’s decision to dump her (Seventeen, 1963). The depiction of boys as being in control of the relationship is indicative of the gender expectations espoused by Seventeen.

Seventeen’s writers and editors offered their definition of gender expectations within the context of a changing American society. Between 1955 and 1965, adults and teenagers alike struggled to reconcile traditional gender expectations of the past with wider societal changes. Previously, men served as the sole breadwinners while their wives remained within the domestic sphere (May, 1999). By 1960, 30.5% of all wives worked for wages (Farber, 1994a: 152). Women’s entry into the workforce was in part due to the necessity of a dual income in order to partake, ‘… in the new and seemingly limitless material abundance that America offered’, but also as a result of dissatisfaction with domestic life (Bailey, 1988: 104). The ensuing ‘crisis of masculinity’ was embodied by the ‘hard/soft’ imagery and language of American cold war culture, that ‘… put a new premium on hard, masculine toughness and rendered anything less than that soft, timid, feminine and as such a real or potential threat to the security of the nation’ (Cuordileone, 2005: viii). This mind-set produced a surge in advice on how to be feminine and distinct criticism of those women who stepped outside traditional female roles (Bailey, 1988: 106).

The idealisation of traditional domestic roles for women during the late 1950s was noticeable in the pages of Seventeen. In relation to the promotion of patriarchal gender ideologies, Illana Nash (2006) notes that, ‘Although popular culture creates nothing ex nihilo, instead engaging and amplifying ideas already in circulation, it nonetheless is a powerful ideological tool in teaching socially acceptable assumptions and beliefs’ (p. 12). This idea is demonstrated in a fictional story, ‘Loving Mr. Mulligan’, printed in the 1958 July issue of Seventeen. The story recounts how 16-year-old Maryjean developed a crush on her next-door neighbour, Mr. Mulligan. Maryjean’s assertion illustrated the expectation that women devote their time to ensuring the proper upkeep of their house. ‘Mr. Mulligan was unhappily married. Mrs. Mulligan was beautiful and charming, but she pursued a career of her own; her housekeeping was a muted scandal on Larchwood Road; [and] she served dinners fresh from the can’, (Sayre, 1958). Moreover, ‘Maryjean had, with her own eyes, seen Mrs. Mulligan laughing at Mr. Mulligan, disagreeing with his opinions, breaking into open argument’. This observation inferred that such actions did not align with accepted female behaviour, but that a woman should defer to her husband’s authority (Sayre, 1958). Yet, the letters responding to this article criticised Maryjean’s actions as overdramatic and ridiculous, indicating that teenagers’ opinions on gender expectations were not necessarily in keeping with those depicted in ‘Loving Mr. Mulligan’. This response illustrates that dominant frames were challenged, thereby contributing to a process of gradual re-framing of the way women’s roles were portrayed (Sayre, 1958: 4).

While throughout the period under discussion, the messages and gender expectations regarding boys and dating espoused by Seventeen were not met with universal acceptance, it is not until the end of the period that one can detect a change in the treatment of these issues. Previously, securing a boy’s affection was depicted as central to a young woman’s aspirations. Although an increasing number of young women attended college, it was still commonplace to drop out once acquiring a fiancé (Anderson, 2012: 7). As such, articles relating to dating maintained a serious tone.

However, in the early 1960s, articles referring to boys and dating acquired a lighter tone and the matter of gaining male attention lost its previous gravitas. The prescriptive, instructive tone present in previous articles is distinctly absent. Moreover, whereas previously articles mentioning boys and dating were classified in the contents page under the heading ‘You and Others’, by 1963 similar articles were placed under the heading ‘Having Fun’. The alteration in the tone and treatment of articles pertaining to boys and dating may indicate an editorial adjustment in keeping with broader social changes regarding gender expectations and women’s roles.

The emergence of an alternative identity to that of the boy-obsessed, ‘demure’ images of domesticity traditionally associated with young women also suggests shifting attitudes. Many of the earlier articles concerning boys encouraged young women to alter their behaviour or appearance to suit the desires of a boy. There was an underlying notion that ‘boys will be boys’ and therefore it was a woman’s duty to compromise and modify herself. Nevertheless, certain articles indicate that as the 1960s were beginning to take hold, this was not the only opinion regarding the ideal woman. In the 1962 article, ‘The Girls I Cherish’, Vance Packard, American journalist, social critic and author, discussed the traits he found most admirable in women. He recounted how he met and subsequently fell for his wife, noting that her honesty and ability to be content being herself were the things that attracted him to her. Packard (1962) recognised that young women were pressured to conform to society’s expectations, but urged them to remain true to their selves, be honest and try hard yet remain humble. The reader response was overwhelmingly positive with one letter stating, ‘In this day and age, we girls need an occasional reminder that we have our own special attributes and personalities – and we shouldn’t try to change them’ (Packard, 1962: 4).

In most of the articles sampled, Seventeen’s portrayal of young women aligned with that of the traditional image of ultra-feminine, soon-to-be housewife. Success and happiness were inextricably linked with attaining a boyfriend, and as such many of the articles are of both a prescriptive and proscriptive nature. The primary messages of these articles inform the reader on how to behave and how not to behave in order to please a boy. The articles also describe and reveal dominant contemporary gender expectations. Girls were expected to defer to male authority and remain within the traditionally ‘feminine’ domain of the domestic sphere. However, it is apparent from the reader responses that the messages promoted by Seventeen did not always sit comfortably with all its readers. Complaints of unrealistic depictions of girls and dissatisfaction with male expectations indicated that some readers struggled to reconcile the limited opportunities and identities offered to them via the pages of Seventeen with the changing realities of American society. Moving further into the 1960s articles concerning boys and the issues of pleasing them evidence a lighter tone and are noticeably less prescriptive. This development, combined with the inclusion of articles advocating new appropriate behaviours for girls, suggests that editors of Seventeen were aware that to maintain their popularity with readers they must adjust to accommodate new ideas regarding the roles of young women and their relationship with boys.

An engaged audience: top down meets bottom up?

Although fashion, beauty, and dating advice formed the bulk of Seventeen magazine’s content, articles relating to social issues and political matters were also included.

Indeed, approximately 20% of the articles discussed in the letters sampled included political content. In some cases, the stance of an article polarised readers, provoking debates which were played out in the letters to the editor. The strong opinions presented in these letters hint at a teenage audience that was, in some instances, actively engaged with the socio-political climate of their time. This is an important area of analysis when determining both the portrayal of and perceptions of young women. Through investigating the messages delivered within these articles, one can gain insight into what the magazine’s editors considered the ‘acceptable’ reactions or opinions of a young woman to a social or political issue. Conversely, an evaluation of the responses to such expectations provides some evidence for what teenage readers of did think about the ideas Seventeen presented. The printed responses expressed an array of varying opinions, revealing an audience that was perhaps less homogeneous than stereotypes of teenage girls suggested.

War and peace were highly politically salient during the 1950s and 1960s, a fact that is reflected in some of the articles printed in Seventeen magazine. David Farber (1994b: 11) argues that during the 1950s, events such as the Cold War military draft contributed to a nationalisation of American culture, heightening gender differences due to of the juxtaposition provided by male military service and the celebration of domesticity aimed at women. Elaborating on the theme of a celebration of domesticity, Susan Hartmann (1994) asserts that

… the insecurity and anxiety generated by the presumed Soviet threat put a premium on family stability and linked women’s traditional domestic roles to the nation’s security. National leaders as well as popular culture proclaimed that women’s role in the international crisis was to strengthen the family and raise new citizens emotionally and mentally fit to win the Cold War. (p. 85)

The impact of such rhetoric on teenagers was exemplified in Seventeen’s 1955 article ‘Meet Young Miss America’. Sixteen-year-old interviewee Jean O’Brian who expressed very clear ideas for her future. Not only did she appear unfazed by the question of how many children she wished to have – at least two – but she also had specific plans when it came to purchasing her own house: ‘A split level house, but not modern furniture … but not too mahogany either. I think I’d like maple’ (Kamp, 1955). Such eager anticipation of domestic life may be a by-product of the emphasis placed on family and traditional domestic roles for women, a result of anxieties regarding national security. Communism continued to be perceived as a threat during the 1960s and anxieties were furthered by atomic brinkmanship and the deployment of an increasing number of US Armed Special Forces into South Vietnam during 1961 (Anderson, 2012: 27).

Although, or perhaps because, these issues were rarely explicitly addressed within Seventeen, it can be argued that young women were portrayed as distant from the overtly masculine, militaristic political climate of this period. For example, the 1962 fashion spread, ‘The Military Look’, lists famous alumni of various military institutes, and stresses the strict schedule, and physical and mental requirements of being a ‘military man’, thus portraying fighting for your country as an honourable, but strictly masculine, deed. In an overt discussion of political opinions regarding the war, the 1962 article, ‘Three US Presidents Talk to You’, interviewed Presidents Eisenhower, Truman and Hoover. When questioned about his decision to drop the a-bomb, Truman (1962) responded, ‘I got a lot of advice, but I had no qualms about using it … faced a half a We faced a half a million casualties trying to take Japan by land. It was either that or the atom bomb, and I didn’t hesitate a minute, and I’ve never lost any sleep over it’. One of the responses to this article, written a few months prior to the Cuban Missile Crisis, indicates how polarising Truman’s actions were:

Some of the views were very inspiring; others deeply disturbing. Mr. Truman is lucky that he can sleep at night – that the lives lost at Hiroshima and Nagasaki do not weigh on his conscience, that he is not concerned about nuclear war … Mr. Truman takes brisk morning walks; I get my exercise on picket lines and peace marches. (V.R, 1962: 4)

Referencing the two World Wars, Eisenhower warns, ‘Those two wars were child’s play compared with what the next one is likely to be. So the most important lesson is simply that we must prevent the next war’ (Eisenhower, 1962).

The notion of propagating peace as opposed to war was epitomised by the formation of the Peace Corps in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. A 1963 article, ‘Inside the Peace Corps’, detailed the experience of three volunteers. The author summed up the role of the Peace Corps as follows:

As Peace Corps Volunteers, Tanya, James and June have the privilege and responsibility of taking part in a global experiment: an attempt by the United States to protect world peace and friendship by sending men and women, ‘willing to serve under conditions of any hardship necessary’ to help undeveloped countries meet their needs for trained manpower. (Seventeen, 1963)

The acceptance of female Peace Corps Volunteers demonstrates one of the ways young women could acceptably be involved with politics – as peace-keepers, not soldiers. Susan J. Douglas (1994) links female participation in the Peace Corps with greater involvement in political activism, maintaining that, ‘the spirit of the times invited, even encouraged, girls to try to change the world too’ (p. 22). Building on this theme, Illana Nash (2006) asserts that

‘Girls’ culture encouraged them to think about non-paying forms of public achievement [and the] establishment of the Peace Corps inspired young Americans to think globally; themes of passionate volunteerism and commitment to social causes began to infuse teen culture regularly for the first time since WWII. (p. 185)

This attitude is reflected in the unanimously positive responses to the article. One reader wrote of their plans to join the Peace Corps upon graduating, another of their belief that ‘every teenager should be interested in the betterment of his fellow man’ (Seventeen, 1963: 4). These responses suggest that readers were aware of, and engaging with, the concerns of American foreign policy.

Domestic tensions and conflicts, such as that between the North and South over gender and race relations, were also a critical aspect of American political culture raised in the pages of Seventeen. Although racism was a problem in both the North and the South, clearly defined ‘southern’ and ‘northern’ identities appeared in the portrayals of teenage girls proffered in Seventeen magazine in this period. Articles portrayed southern girls as ultra-feminine, conforming to traditional gender roles and playing down their intelligence, while northerners were depicted as overbearingly vocal in terms of intellect. For example, the 1960 article ‘Face to Face’ praising 19-year-old Martha Williamson, a southerner who was a freshman at Barnard in New York stated, ‘Martha is feminine: she loves being a girl. She walks with a swish of petticoats, she blushes, giggles and bats her eyelashes. Like a good southern belle, she hides determination and brains beneath feminine flutter. But they are there’. The message appears to be that this is the ideal to which readers should aspire – after all, she did get a job as a reporter for her local newspaper, managing to work full time while maintaining ‘A’ grades and still have time for social activities. Painted as the archetypal southern belle Martha also believed that men were superior to women and attributed her good fortune to God: ‘If he didn’t exist, how could all these wonderful things happen to me?’ (Seventeen, 1960). The responses to this article provide insight to the perceived division between southerners and northerners. ‘Martha Williamson’s opinion that men are superior to women will probably raise the eyebrows of some of your northern readers’. Another letter challenged Martha’s belief in the agency of God. ‘She argues that because she is so lucky, God, therefore exists. May we remind her of Virgil’s words, “What region on earth is not full of our calamities?”’ (Seventeen, 1960: 4). These letters suggest that not all of Seventeen’s readers agreed with the ‘typically southern’ characteristics praised in this article.

A 1962 article, ‘Do Southern Girls Really Have More Fun?’ also addressed the topic of ‘southern’ and ‘northern’ identities. This opinion piece, written by 18-year-old college student Cornelia Stephens from North Carolina, claimed that Southern girls who moved north found it easier to attract boys than if they remained in the South. Stephens alleged that ‘today a Southern boy expects his girl not only to be beautiful and alluring, but also to be well-informed, independent and logical. Northern boys have the same standard for northern girls. But what they expect of southern girls is a different story’ (Stephens, 1962). Stephens argued that a southern girl should use the stereotype of the uncultured, helpless, southern belle to her advantage. Again, reader-responses exhibited mixed feelings about adhering to such stereotypes. One letter reads,

We read deah Miss Cornelia’s adorable l’il article and if we all acted like that we’d be back in the Middle Ages. We don’ hide our linguistic capabilities behind accents and we speak our cute l’il ol’ minds. We don’ mind boys bein’ masculine – quite the contrary. But we intend to act like we have a brain even if we end up spinsters. (Stephens, 1962: 4)

The latent sarcasm and use of false dialect within this letter implies that depictions of southern girls in Seventeen magazine did not necessarily reflect reality. As Allison Graham argues, although far from an accurate representation of the South, the popular northern liberal notion that southerners were backwards, propagated throughout the mass media, was utilised repeatedly during the civil rights era (Graham, 2001: 12–13). However, another reader’s assertion that ‘As a northern girl gone south … during my visits to the southern states I have found gallantry and courtliness which is decidedly lacking in Yankee boys’, reinforces stereotypes of the South (Stephens, 1962: 4). The apparent contradiction between representation and reality exemplified in this instance demonstrates the importance of studying both the production and reception, specifically, acceptance or rejection, of cultural ideals (Cook and Glickman, 2008: 17).

A key issue dividing the American nation was the Civil Rights Movement. David Farber argues that despite its prevailing sexism and male-dominated nature, the protest movement, ‘provided much of the intellectual foundation and cultural orientation for the women’s liberation movement’.(Farber, 1994a: 151) As such, an examination of Seventeen articles referencing the Civil Rights Movement provides insight not only into prescribed attitudes regarding racial discrimination, but also into how the protest movement may have spawned some of the themes central to the emerging Women’s Liberation Movement. Of the 97 articles referenced in the ‘Your Letters’ section within this sample, only two pertain to the Civil Rights Movement, perhaps indicating a reticence on the part of Seventeen to alienate readers by taking a firm stance either way.

Concerns about polarising readers’ opinions were indeed legitimate, as evidenced by conflicting responses to a brief 1958 article featuring 15-year-old Angie Evans, a student from Van Buren High, Arkansas. Miss Evans was praised for defending the integration policy at her school during a meeting formed by parents opposed to integration. The magazine’s editors described as brave Angie’s plea ‘that most of her classmates favored the one-school-for all idea’, thus indirectly supporting integration (Seventeen, 1958). This event took place four years after the 1954 landmark Brown decision, and one year after the 1957 Little Rock incidents (Williams, 1987). Responses to the initial article were split. While one reader applauded Seventeen for their positive stance, another reader’s letter (referenced in the introduction), decried Seventeen’s integrationist position. So vehement were the opinions of the latter respondent, that the ‘Your Letters’ section of the following issue was filled with letters commenting on the topic of integration. Some urged that ‘Integration will bring with it uncountable problems’, while others countered with examples of successful desegregation and calls for a ‘united’ America (Seventeen, 1959: 4).

Excluding the subsequent reader-responses relating to the piece on Angie Evans, there was an absence of material concerning the Civil Rights Movement in the letters sampled until the publication of David Klein’s ‘What You Can Do for Human Rights in Your Own Home Town’, in 1965 (Klein, 1965). The lengthy piece described methods of defending and upholding human rights, focusing specifically on racial equality. The labelling of black civil rights as ‘human rights’ indicates the willingness of Seventeen to take an affirmative standpoint regarding integration as well as the increased gravitas assigned to the cause. The author acknowledged the appeal of, ‘… working on Negro education or voter registration drives in the southern states’, but suggested that ‘…you may be able to get more done by staying out of jail and working inconspicuously by yourself or with a group of small friends’ (Klein, 1965). The stance taken here implies a pro-integration attitude, but in such a way that readers would be unlikely to get into any trouble for the actions promoted in the article. Klein suggested the use of researched argument to counter fears such as the lowering of school standards and the devaluation of property because of integration. The message of the article contends that readers of Seventeen have the potential to make a difference, portraying teenage girls as agents of political activism, although arguably in a more passive role than the students participating in freedom rides or male Civil Rights leaders.

The reader-response to this article demonstrates that despite the growing power of the movement and the progress that had been achieved, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, public opinion was far from uniform (Anderson, 2012: 45–47). The nine responses printed indicate that opinions were divided as to how far racial equality should go, with a spectrum of tolerance presented. For example, six responses were resoundingly positive, praising Seventeen for taking a ‘definite stand on [an] important issue’ (Klein, 1965: 4). However, the following two letters represent examples of opposition or hesitance towards racial integration:

I shudder when I think of the so-called ‘do-gooders’ and misguided altruists armed with the weapons of Truth and Knowledge gleaned from this article … I am not a student agitator, rabble-rouser, or malcontent; neither do I engage in George Orwell’s ‘two minute hates’ twice a day or ride with the Klan. I oppose the 1964 Civil Rights Bill on constitutional and legal grounds and I resent your lumping all conservatives in the same category as diehard Southern extremists (D.B., 1965:4).

How far should this brotherly love go? I speak especially of Negroes. After you’ve done your good deed and convinced someone ‘they aren’t all bad’ do you keep it on that teetering relationship? Should the love for one’s fellow man stop at a certain point? After becoming ‘friends’ do you fear that a very close or very warm relationship is harmful to either race? I’d like to hear what other readers think. (J.B., 1965: 4)

Moreover, some of the letters highlight the aforementioned North/South divide, alluding to political stereotypes of Northerners and Southerners. In defence of their opposition to racial integration, one reader argued,

What you Northerners can’t see is that we were brought up to regard Negroes as different from us. We were told that they were to keep in their place and we were to keep in ours. I believe many Southerners like colored people as individuals and dislike them as a class, but many Northerners like them as a class and dislike them as individuals. At least David Klein has a little sense; he urged his readers to stay home this summer. You handle your problems; we’ll handle ours! (R.S., 1965: 4)

The articles sampled between 1955 and 1965 suggest that Seventeen, although still anchored in the traditional portrayal of women’s roles, that is, primarily concerned with arguably more superficial, or at least personal issues, exhibits an incremental shift towards topics covering public matters that were both explicitly and implicitly political. Americans during the latter half of the 1950s and into the 1960s still lived in the shadow of the Cold War and anxieties regarding Communism at home and abroad, nuclear war and the appropriate role of women were keenly felt. The resulting political policies were reflected in the notion of domestic containment, a concept that clearly impacted how young American women envisioned their futures. Another crucial political concern of the times was the Civil Rights Movement, in which racial tension and discrimination highlighted the divisions – both geographical and ideological – within America.

Responses to politically oriented articles suggest that readers were not only aware of the dominant political issues, but were also actively forming opinions on those matters articulated within Seventeen. Importantly, the opinions expressed within respondents’ letters were far from monolithic. Responses exhibited a broad spectrum of outlooks, and readers were not afraid to dispute the sentiments voiced by either Seventeen or their fellow peers.

Conclusion

The focus of this study is the ‘letters-to-the-editor’ and the corresponding articles within Seventeen magazine between 1955 and 1965. Examination of the portrayals of young women within these articles, supplemented by an analysis of the reader responses, suggests that this period was one of flux, and transition towards a rather different framing of the roles of young women. The ideals promoted in articles from the mid-1950s differed from those promoted in articles from the mid-1960s. Thus, though Seventeen, we argue, was a key ‘site’ at which teenage girls developed their perceptions of their roles, it was not immune from exogenous influences in this period of heated political debate in American society. However, as revisionist historians of the 1960s have noted, these changes were not drastic, but gradual. Nor did change happen exclusively during the 1960s. Rather, aspects of the 1950s including anti-communist containment theory, a revived emphasis on traditional gender roles, and an affluent post-war society paved the way for at least some of the traits traditionally considered exclusive to the ‘sixties’. The letters-to-the-editor support this argument, in some cases demonstrating how the printed ideal did not always reflect reality, but was in fact a little antiquated. The ‘Your Letters’ section of Seventeen magazine exemplifies one of the ways that young American women could express opinions on, discuss, debate, and engage with topics of concern. Arguably such actions reflect a fundamental shift from the private to the public sphere.