When Never-Ending Domesticity Isn't As Blissful As It Seems - Invented: The Myth of the American Housewife - Episode 2

Invented: The Myth of the American Housewife - Episode 2 When Never-Ending Domesticity Isn't As Blissful As It Seems There's a lot we remember today about midcentury America. The celebrated sights and sounds. The famous leaders and infamous politicians. And the way that image of the happy homemaker, with her feminine hairdo and fit-and-flare dresses, was our answer to the hardship of World War II and the looming anxieties of the Cold War. But today, as we see the re-emergence of tradwives, it's worth noting something we often forget: The misery of women who were relegated to the home. "There's a lot of isolation, there's a lot of unrest in their spirits and in their souls," says Kristen Thompson, who wrote her graduate master's thesis at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, on mid-20th-century housewives. "They had these higher dreams and aspirations, and they're now living in a society that's pushing them back." In this episode, Thompson tells us about how housewives often turned to tranquilizers, particularly Milltown, which was advertised in popular magazines – Ladies Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, House Beautiful – as a "happy" pill. In reality, Milltown was addictive, dangerous when it came to accidental overdoses, and withdrawal from it could lead to hallucinations and seizures. We also speak with former tradwife Enitza Templeton, who tells us about the journey she went through – choosing a "traditional" lifestyle and submitting to her husband – but ultimately realizing how unfulfilling it was. "I was just kind of a shell of a human and a robot version of myself," she says. Join us for part two of Invented: The Myth of the American Housewife. (Photo credit: Serax ad)