The above is taken from a 1960s children’s book charmingly titled I’m
Glad I’m a Boy! I’m Glad I’m a Girl!, which Jezebel
discovered via Contexts.
My favorite of the captions is definitely, “Boys can eat.
Girls can cook.” It’s very important that girls understand from a young age
that they are incapable of consuming food. Weight Watchers diet shakes do not
count as food.
Here’s a full page out of the book, in case you want to share with
your kids a simpler time, a time when genitalia alone determined every single
life decision.
The book's author, Whitney Darrow, was a cartoonist who drew for The New Yorker,
among other places, and many commentators argue that his book was a satire.
Unfortunately, it was not received as such at the time. School
Libraries, published by the American Association of School Libraries in 1969, said of Darrow's masterpiece: ”This warmly humorous book makes everybody glad they are what they
are.” (Dear School Libraries, “everybody” is actually singular.)
And this, from the “Books for Children” section in Childhood
Education in 1970: “Simple drawings with line captions designed to help the
young child discover his or her appropriate sex role.”
No wonder kids today need so much medication! They're just too darn confused.
Image (right): therealproposal.com
