TELEVISION IN THE 1950’S
Given the conservative, sexist, homophobic, and antisemitic culture of the 1950s, was there any conscious or unconscious message that the official discourse was not entirely the only one? Did you see anything in society that hinted that the world could be different, open, tolerant, and respectful of diversity, of what is different, of what is humiliated?
There is a myth, Foucault tells us, that the Victorian era (19th century) was a time of sexual repression.
People couldn’t talk about sexuality or teach anything about it. Women, it was believed, were frigid and had no passionate interest. They covered their bodies out of shame for anything erotic, to the point that even piano legs had to wear socks. Queen Victoria was the symbol of a chaste society.
However, the same philosopher tells us that this was a farce.
There was no society more sexually promiscuous than the Victorians. Prostitution, abuse, sexual colonialism, rape, incest, and all kinds of pathologies were everywhere. This is also where the new discipline of psychiatry was born, which became obsessed with the sexual lives of Europeans. On one hand, you had a sexless queen, but on the other hand, you had Jack the Ripper, who enjoyed dismembering sex workers.