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Metal_detector [OP]September 22, 2024
This is all I have for now. I’m sifting through the 80s and 90s. They just keep coming. The 80s is when the papers start to soften their stance on cross dressers and TIMs. So give me some time.
KevlarMagnoliaSeptember 23, 2024
I feel like you can see that in the very last column (bottom right, from 1979). The letter reads like it could have been written today—but unfortunately, so does the response. “Yes, sex change operations have been shown not to make patients any happier…but these men really, really want them so insurance should cover it anyway.” Maybe after twenty years of being harangued by AGPs, Ann gave up and gave in?
Ok quick glance only, but now I'm wondering if all these responses to sincere inquiries were written by a man...could it be that Ann, Abby, etc were not even really women?
No they were def women. Women from a different time. Some of the responses given are similar to ones my sweet but still very much a boomer mother might give, and my silent generation grandmother would def be giving. These women are not feminists. But they do represent the general attitudes and views of a lot of women from this era in time. And they do provide a small peek into the lives of everyday readers. The majority of readers, and individuals writing in were women. Their struggles, their ideas, their lives.
I found an article going in depth about Ann Landers and her empire and how she got to being one of the most popular columnists in America at the time. It’s very interesting. I’ll post it at some point. Ovarit only allows a limited number of posts per day.
Ann and Abby are identical twin sisters. They became estrange due to competition for most of their lives. I believe they were able to reconcile later in life.
Apologies for the long tangent. It’s been incredibly interesting for me.
Please don’t write off women with opinions that we find objectionable as men in disguise. Its frustrating to see. Women are not a monolith. They aren’t correct but they did give their opinion.
Very good to know, and thank you for the excellent explanation. I was thinking about my knee-jerk post last night and did some additional reflection. I think the ways that the responses were written did reflect the times, and it was more important to have Ann and Abby present a viewpoint that staying married to your oddball husband was better for the family and society overall. So if the AGP behavior was only embarrassing or distressing within the home, it could be dealt with by the family. I do feel bad for those wives. I don't think anyone could have predicted the current mess we have now, where entire families are transing together, and engaging in disfiguring surgeries and taking dangerous drugs.
Of course!! My mother and grandmother have both said back in those days these types of things were considered “privet” matters. Therapy was seen as something only “crazy” people did. And women didn’t have as many opportunities and ways to escape. This was also pre internet so there women were very much isolated with these men. Which is probably why these women wrote in to columnists anonymously. It was a safe way to do this. Weather it was in a panic over discovering their husbands fetish, or to warn other women to run.
It’s a bit like a time capsule. I will say in the 80s they started to soften and by the 00s they were starting to voice things we’d hear today. I genuinely believe they had no idea at that time we’d be in the situation we are in now.
And all good friend. 🖤