Women In The Beat Movement Analysis
Core Concepts
2/25/13 2:18 PM
What is this class about? • Empowerment and ability to define yourself, don’t let others do it for you • Despite time period, all groups discussed drew on traditional methods to shape their world • Passion • Learning how to live What is culture? • Characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts What is subculture and what is its connection to culture? • Subculture is the group who is either viewed, or views itself, as disenfranchised and often in opposition to the larger culture in which they exist • Connected to culture because the subculture exists solely as a result the mainstream is in some way inadequate and must be …show more content…
• Increased consumerism, political repression, McCarthy witch hunts • Sexual contradiction: o Masturbation causes insanity, premarital sex is immoral, half of women married by 19, only whores had premarital sex How did college contribute to the emergence of women in the Beat movement? What did women study in college? What was the societal goal for sending women to college? • MrS degree – liberal arts (art, literature, religion, philosophy) • Societal goals: o Want women to be cultured, but stay at home o Want women to be creative, but use that for home/children How did the male icons of the Beat Generation relate to women? In what ways was “female rebellion” considered even more dangerous to the mainstream than “male rebellion?” What sorts of consequences did women who rebelled face? How did these consequences vary from those the male Beats faced? • Women were locked up physically, AND culturally: o There was no gray area…either you were a virgin or a whore, a nice girl or crazy o If you wanted to be adventurous, then you were probably categorized as a lesbian, whether you were or weren’t • In the 50s, if you were male, you could be a rebel. • Men could have sex with anyone and not be labeled while women were expected to remain virgins until marriage. In what ways were Beat women beat? • Even within the Beat community women could not find a new place. They became wives and mothers, only in a more chaotic and rebellious framework. o Someone needed to care for Neal Cassady's children o Someone needed to hang Jack Kerouac's T-shirts to dry o Someone needed to type "Kaddish" for Allen
2/25/13 2:18 PM
What is this class about? • Empowerment and ability to define yourself, don’t let others do it for you • Despite time period, all groups discussed drew on traditional methods to shape their world • Passion • Learning how to live What is culture? • Characteristics of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts What is subculture and what is its connection to culture? • Subculture is the group who is either viewed, or views itself, as disenfranchised and often in opposition to the larger culture in which they exist • Connected to culture because the subculture exists solely as a result the mainstream is in some way inadequate and must be …show more content…
• Increased consumerism, political repression, McCarthy witch hunts • Sexual contradiction: o Masturbation causes insanity, premarital sex is immoral, half of women married by 19, only whores had premarital sex How did college contribute to the emergence of women in the Beat movement? What did women study in college? What was the societal goal for sending women to college? • MrS degree – liberal arts (art, literature, religion, philosophy) • Societal goals: o Want women to be cultured, but stay at home o Want women to be creative, but use that for home/children How did the male icons of the Beat Generation relate to women? In what ways was “female rebellion” considered even more dangerous to the mainstream than “male rebellion?” What sorts of consequences did women who rebelled face? How did these consequences vary from those the male Beats faced? • Women were locked up physically, AND culturally: o There was no gray area…either you were a virgin or a whore, a nice girl or crazy o If you wanted to be adventurous, then you were probably categorized as a lesbian, whether you were or weren’t • In the 50s, if you were male, you could be a rebel. • Men could have sex with anyone and not be labeled while women were expected to remain virgins until marriage. In what ways were Beat women beat? • Even within the Beat community women could not find a new place. They became wives and mothers, only in a more chaotic and rebellious framework. o Someone needed to care for Neal Cassady's children o Someone needed to hang Jack Kerouac's T-shirts to dry o Someone needed to type "Kaddish" for Allen