Sunday, April 28, 2013

The Religious Right


The 1980 presidential election ushered in more than just a new national leader in Ronald Reagan it brought about a new political force, the Religious Right. In 1983 Ronald Reagan declared, “ There’s a great spiritual awakening in America”, and that “freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged”[1], marrying politics and religion. Since Reagan’s presidency the Religious Right has taken over the Republican Party and maybe for the worse.
Tea Party sign courtesy of politicsdaily.com

While advocating a return the traditional values the religious sector of the conservative party has pushed the Republicans further and further to the right, handicapping them when it comes to social change. Jane Devin of the Huffington Post says, “the Republican party became a bloated fool, stuffed with hypocrisy, greed, and anti-intellectualism” taken over by neo-Christian groups.[2] The new right wing was anti-gay, anti-abortion, and anti any new taxes, while advocating prayers in school, nuclear families, and in some cases a marriage of church and state. President Reagan once said “Let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness-pray they will discover the job of knowing God” because “…they are the focus of evil in the modern world…”[3] This type of rhetoric has become divisive today in the hands of many of the rights pundits like Anne Coulter and Rush Limbaugh who use it to drive a wedge between left and right placing division where previously there were none. 



[1] Ronald Reagan “Spirital Awakening”in Major Problems in American History Since 1945. 360

[2] Devin, Jane. “The Christian Right Killed the Republican Party.” The Huffington Post.

[3] Ronald Reagan “Spirital Awakening”. 361

Morning in America


“It’s morning again in America” this was President Ronald Reagan’s slogan for reelection campaign in 1983 that can be seen here. According to Reagan, his first term had reversed much of the economic hardships that had gripped the country during the Carter years. Reagan also ushered in the new Religious Right and brought about America’s “Spiritual Reawakening”.[1] Reagan has entered the America psyche, especially among the conservatives, as a great American president, who reasserted America’s global dominance, and fixed the country economic troubles.
 Reagan campaign poster courtesy of lamecherry.blogspot.com


When it came for foreign issues Reagan initially did not seem to live up to the image that he now conjures. An example of this was on his return in 1982 from Latin America, were he said, “You’d be surprised. They’re all individual countries.”[2] It almost seemed the Reagan was in over his as president and sometimes “displayed a striking inability to differentiate between reality and fantasy.”[3] Ronald Reagan had a very up and down record when it came to foreign affairs from the releasing of the American hostages in Iran just weeks after his inauguration and the taking down of the Berlin Wall to Iran-Contra. Iran-Contra, which was the CIA illegal, selling of arms to Iran and using that money to fund forces in Nicaragua. This could be considered the biggest stain on Reagans image, however he claimed not to know many of the things his administration did.[4] Regan also failed to agree on a proposal to eliminate the American and Soviet nuclear arsenal.
Ronald Reagan’s domestic record was not much better for a majority of the country. Reagan increased military spending and cut taxes for the wealthy and paid for it by cutting many social programs. He perpetuated the myth of the welfare queen a women with “ eighty names, thirty addresses, and twelve Social Security cards” and had “a tax-free income of over $150,000.”[5] The Reagan years also witnessed a tripling of the national debt and massive stock market crash.
The Reagan that many remember and conservatives refer to when making a point does not seem to have existed. The real Reagan was an old retired actor who was out of his depth much of the time.





[1] Robert Griffith, and Paula Baker, eds. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. 360

[2] Stone, Oliver, and Peter Kuznick. The Untold History of the United States. 495

[3] Stone, Oliver, and Peter Kuznick. The Untold History of the United States. 496

[4] Stone, Oliver, and Peter Kuznick. The Untold History of the United States. 541

[5] Stone, Oliver, and Peter Kuznick. The Untold History of the United States. 497

Monday, April 15, 2013

Playboy and the Sexual Revolution


            The sexual revolution of the 1950s and 60s conjures images of the rise of feminism, the decline of traditional Middle class American values of the nuclear family. But, maybe the one thing that should be thought about when referring to sexual liberation is Hugh Hefner and the role of Playboy. Playboy was not he first magazine to capitalize off of the women’s body, what Playboy did however was overtly sell sex like no magazine had before. Playboy, as one reader commented made “old issues of Esquire, in its most uninhibited days, look like trade bulletins from the W.C.T.U.”[1]. Playboy did more then just sell naked women, they “rejected any limits on sexual expression” and was overly critical of marriage[2]. Marriage for Playboy was nothing more than a “financial trap” that men found themselves in men in this “woman-dominated land”[3]. Playboy encouraged the idea of no strings attached sex, that one does not have be emotionally committed to a person to have sex. 
courtesy of www.bunnydeana.com
Hugh Hefner with Playboy Playmates


courtesy of www.chicagoarchitecture.info
The Palmolive building in Chicago formerly the Playboy Skyscrapper
          














Huge Hefner’s rising wealth throughout the 1960s made it clear that his ideas of sexuality were striking a cord somewhere with someone. For Huge, the idea of the naked female figure was more than just sexual, it was “ a symbol of disobedience” it was “an end of Puritanism”[4]. For Huge it was no surprise when people like Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson showed up at his Chicago skyscraper. He attributed their presence to a larger revolution that was happening in the country during this, not just a sexual revolution but also a social one. In the 1950s and 60s all of Americas social values where being tested, attacked, and turned on their heads, from race, to sex, women, and even the church no group in this era was left untouched. In a 2010 interview to the New York Post, Huge Hefner told interviewer Reed Tucker, “it was a time of real revolution in the social scene in America, and the church was very much involved in that. So the same kind of re-evaluation in terms of values was going on inside religion, as well.”[5]
            The end of all of these social revolutions came at the same time, the election of President Reagan and the rising influence of the Bible belt and the Christian conservatives. “The 1980s, the arrival of Reagan, was really the beginning of the religious right being involved in politics, and it was the religious right that helped get Reagan elected, and he paid them back by establishing the Meese Commission, which for the first time wound up labeling Playboy porn”[6] It was then that Playboy was termed porn and a social stigma was for ever attached to it.
            Whether or not Playboy had as large of an social impact as Huge would like to believe is up for debate, but what can not be argued is the fact that Playboy has become apart of American society and it has grown far beyond the pages it was first printed on. Playboy is now more than just a magazine; it is a part of pop culture; with a channel, a mansion, legendary parties, and a bunny that has become ingrained in American culture.


[1] John D’Emilio, and Estelle B. Freedman. Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America. P. 302.

[2] John D’Emilio, and Estelle B. Freedman. Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America. P. 302.

[3] John D’Emilio, and Estelle B. Freedman. Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America. P. 302.
[4] John D’Emilio, and Estelle B. Freedman. Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America. P. 302.
[5] “Q&A: Hugh Hefner.” New York Post.

[6] “Q&A: Hugh Hefner.” New York Post.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Feminism Then and Now


            Hidden beneath such events as the Vietnam War and all the movements it sparked as well as the Civil Rights movement, was the new feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s. This “Second Wave” of feminism received it spark from a book written by Betty Friedan entitled The Feminine Mystique. Even though women’s struggle for equality continues to this day the social revolution that begun in the 60s basically ended with the rise of the social conservatives of the 1980s[1]. So how has the ideas of Friedan been embraced and effect women of today.
            Friedan in her book proclaimed that women of her era would ask themselves what she referred to as “the silent question” about their lives “is this all?”[2] The women of the 1950s and 60s, those whom Friedan was referring to in her book, was told, “their role was to seek fulfillment as wives and mothers”[3], to pity those “neurotic, unfeminine, unhappy women” who sought careers, and life outside of that a housewife and mother[4]. Women of this era would forgo education and a career for that they were told was their version of The American Dream, to become a suburban housewife. But what if this wasn’t enough for some women what if they got had all that society told them they wanted and needed and yet they still felt inadequate, what then? Who would women turn to and tell that there is a problem with this ideal existence when they didn’t even know what was wrong? “The Problem”[5], as Friedan calls it is when a woman knew something was wrong but didn’t know what, when they unsatisfied were others would be. However, these were problems for women prior to the “Second Wave” of feminism and the revolution would change all of these things.



courtesy of cognoscenti.wbur.org  


            In todays world, where inequality is frowned upon and women at least on paper are equal to their male counterparts the world in which Friedan talks about no longer applies. In a recent article from The Washington Post entitled “Once again, feminists take up fight we shouldn’t have” columnists Sally Quinn takes up the argument. Quinn in her article talks about how feminists now fight among themselves about what the progress for women really look like, the issue of “work v. home”.[6] Quinn talks about the stance Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook, takes in her new book “Lean In” and how this differs from what traditional feminist taught. Sandberg feels as though men and women should split home responsibility 50/50 so that women can pursue their own careers outside the house. This line of thinking goes against what more traditional feminist preached, the sacrificing of a home life for a career. Quinn looks at how feminist such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan have argued over and struggled with this issue during their lives. Steinem and Friedan went different direction in their social life; Steinem “made it clear she wasn’t interested in marriage and children”[7] while Friedan married and had children. This issue seeped into the lives of middle class women in America as the struggled over whether to give “up chances to marry and have children” to pursue a career or not.[8]
            The feminist of the 1960s and 70s opened many doors to women of later generation and because of their revolution women of today have opportunities that those women only dreamt of. But there is a new struggle an internal fight that all women must confront, which is how to combine a home life with a career. Quinn says it best in the conclusion of her article when she proclaims, “Women should live our own lives the way we want to and respect those who live their lives differently.”[9]


[1] Robert Griffith, and Paula Baker, eds. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. p. 280

[2]  Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. p. 281

[3] Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. P. 281

[4] Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. P. 282

[5] Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique. Major Problems in American History Since 1945. P. 283

[6] Sally Quinn. “Once Again, Feminists Take up Fight We Shouldn’t Have.” The Washington Post, March 15, 2013

[7] Quinn. “Once Again, Feminists Take up Fight We Shouldn’t Have.”

[8] Quinn. “Once Again, Feminists Take up Fight We Shouldn’t Have.”

[9] Quinn. “Once Again, Feminists Take up Fight We Shouldn’t Have.”