From Vichy to the sexual revolution : gender and family life in postwar France / Sarah Fishman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fishman, Sarah, 1957- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sex role--France--History--20th century.

Sex role.

Families--France--History--20th century.

Families.

Sex--Social aspects--France--History--20th century.

Sex.

Man-woman relationships--France--History--20th century.

Man-woman relationships.

Women--France--Social conditions--20th century.

Women.

Social change--France--History--20th century.

Social change.

World War, 1939-1945--Social aspects--France.

World War, 1939-1945.

World War, 1939-1945--Influence.

History.

Social conditions.

Sex--Social aspects.

France--Social conditions--1945-1995.

France.

France--Social policy.

Social policy.

Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.).

Social aspects.

Women--Social conditions.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxvi, 263 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017]

Summary:

"At the end of World War II, France discarded not only the Vichy regime but also the austere ideology behind it. Under the veneer of a conservative vision of family characterized by the traditional structure of a male breadwinner and female homemaker, the conception of love, marriage, and parenting began changing in the years immediately after the Liberation. In the 1950s, France experienced rapid economic development alongside a baby boom, changing from a rural country worn out by economic depression, war, and occupation into an urban, industrial, and affluent nation. Meanwhile, the works of Sigmund Freud, Simone de Beauvoir, and Alfred Kinsey began to influence popular culture and shape how people thought about their partners, their children, and themselves. Little more than twenty years after Vichy was abolished, France had already entered the early phases of a dramatic sexual revolution, laying the groundwork for the turmoil of May 1968. From Vichy to the Sexual Revolution explores the factors that led to such radical changes in French notions of gender roles, family structures, and sexuality. Sarah Fishman follows French women's path toward emancipation from winning suffrage in 1945 to the social movements of 1960s, painting a broad view of shifting habits and ideas about love, courtship, sex, marriage, parenting, childhood, and adolescence. She surveys a wide range of sources, including juvenile court cases, inexpensive guidebooks on marriage and childbirth, and popular magazines--Marie Claire and Elle most notably, where iconic columnists such as Marcelle Auclair and Marcelle Ségal answered readers' letters and dispensed intimate and inspirational advice to millions of women. Fishman deftly links economic, political, and social transformations, showing how the vision of family shifted away from a rigid structure dominated by the authority of the father toward a more dynamic group characterized by engaged relationships between parents and children. A sweeping social history of postwar France, this book illuminates the extraordinary impact that national policies have on ordinary lives "-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction. The 1940s

from war to peace

Men, women, and family life, 1945-1949

Forces of change

Marriage and parenting in the 1950s

Children and adolescents in the 1950s

Family, sex, marriage, and the new self

Youth, women, jeunes filles

Dating and courtship

Something old, something new : marriage and children in the 1960s.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 239-251) and index.

ISBN:

9780190248628

0190248629

OCLC:

966436336