I think I have to agree with dazed and confused on the things brought up. That falls more into line with my own personal experiences, too.
Child abuse and incest were not discussed and children caught in that often had noone to advocate for them or protect them. Even if a child tried to tell, people refused to listen. Stalking was not a felony, and very often police did little about it and very often the woman was blamed. Rape was handled quite differently.
You might think some of the crimes you now hear about are new, but, thats not entirely true. what is true is it is out in the public more. Decades ago if you had cancer- it was kept secret. It was simpkly not discussed......neither were other illnesses. ANd yes, people died from illness but since it was not discussed, it was not common public knowledge just how people died. Mentally ill persons were quietly turned over to state care or taken care of hidden in the home.....not sent out into the "real world" and even physically mobility challenged people were simply kept home and quietly taken care of.
AT the turn of the century, docs often quietly made serious judgements about who lived and who died on their own, sometimes without even discussing it with families.
Yes, mothers did work outside the home even then, out of necessity, quite often.....and sadly their children were sometimes left to fend for themself, but noone called CPS or police on them. Even in the late 60s teachers could smack a kid.....and even in the early 70s ministers sexually abused children. It just was not out on TV like it is now. Sadly, becuz there was so little media attention, people were not as aware.
During WW2 women worked a lot outside the home. Very many men were gone to war.
In 40s and 50s women had very little say in much of anything....no input at all. Even when their dhs were womanizing abusive violent creeps. and children were at the mercy of everyone.
It is wonderful if you were born into a family or neighborhood where things went well.but, a very large number of us were born into lives that were nowhere near as idealyic.
I agree life is more stressful now in some ways, but......I also agree each time had its own unique challenges and stressors.
Yes, we have AIDs and Hepatitis, in the 50s they had polio. If my kids show up at school with poor fitting clothes, or clothes our school does not find "decent" they will call CPS.....growing up I most often did not HAVE shoes except for winter for school. When I was growing up if my mom was late getting home from work, a neighbor might have kept one eye on me (even if it was not obvious) but these days most likely someone will call police instead. Years ago, families took care of their own more.......our nursing homes are FULL of people - some even sorta young, relatively speaking, who maybe only need minimal assistance....why? becuz so many people seem to think they have better things to do with their life, time, efforts and energy than care for their older family members.
SOmetimes I think, and from working in nursing home and conversing with the elderly.........seems maybe decdes ago people just seemed more able to accept how their life was and be happy even if their life was not fairy tale perfect.
