pasithea

Okay okay, I know. Every other post I make seems to reference The Illusion of Life but this post is to be no exception.

One thing that's been consistently striking me as jarring about the book is that the writer always refers to the people he works with as 'The Men'. Never even as 'the guys' or 'the boys'. So I get to the part about the Ink and Paint departments (which is a horror story unto itself from his summary) and anyhow. IaPers are called 'The Girls' except in a few places where they are 'the women' but mostly they're 'The Girls'.

Yes, I understand this is The Way Things Were but that doesn't mean I have to like them or not question them. My number one question, of course, is: How the heck did women tolerate that kind of world? I mean seriously. Not being allowed to have their 'dream job' because it 'wasn't suitable for girls', being kept from sports, only a few years earlier at that point, not being able to vote, and just a little before that, not allowed to own property. Heck, you WERE property. I'd have been really pissed off all the time. How the Hell did they keep from just losing it and beating the shit out of everyone in sight? the same goes for blacks. The first black animator was Frank Baxton at Warner in 1957. The first woman animator was Lillian Friedman at Fleisher in 1932 but she was the exception, not the rule and got paid 1/3rd of what 'The Men' got. It wasn't until the mid 70's that Black and Women animators were able to find work at big studios in any significant numbers, and by then, the 'golden age' was passed and it was already in decline.

It's interesting the things that we take for granted but depressing that it was ever and issue at all and that someone had to fight long and hard to make it so easy for me. :/