Though many of these photos are not considered dangerous to us today, those listed below show a different world in which the women doing the activities is one that is closed to modern-thinking women and frowned upon them doing anything that could be considered unusual. This included smoking, shooting guns, and enjoying time on the beach in a “revealing bikini”, amongst other normal things that are not even strange in today’s culture.
All of these mid-twentieth-century photos were collected and put into a snapshot book that was later posted online so that we could all see the craziness of these women in our standards today. There’s no question that they are just doing all sorts of regular activities, like bouncing around, being silly, wearing comfortable clothing that makes them feel good about themselves, and trying new things that are so exciting for this repressed population.
The compiler explains that the word “dangerous” was applied to these women, not because they are doing things that are dangerous like shooting guns (though, it was something that concerned many men at the time), but due to the fact that they had broken out of their social roles and were doing whatever they felt like doing.
Today, this is normal because we encourage both men and women to do whatever it is they want to do. Social norms are meant to be broken in our societies, so seeing women doing all sorts of these activities is pleasant and calming, seeing that rebellion was normal even back in those days when rules were tight.
What we can learn from these photos is that normal is totally relative and that these women are brave and fun to have done all of the things that they were, knowing very well that it was against the rules. Take a look for yourself and see.
