Gypsy Creams
You Big Fibber!
Woman's Weekly / 23rd April 1965
I have to say, I can’t help but be slightly impressed at people who find it easy to lie, as I’m not very good at it. Mary’s advice to this girl is quite canny, making her really think about what she’s saying. The stigma of divorce 45 years ago is clear from Jessie’s letter. I hope her final relationship continued to be happy, especially as her first husband’s divorce appears to have had nothing at all to do with her!
Incidentally, those who didn’t read my tweet or Facebook post may enjoy my recent appearance on the TATP (Talk About The Passion) podcast. I’m near the end, and that’s definitely not a fib.
Tags: marriage, Mary Marryat, misplaced morality, problem page
Jamie on 16 October 2011 @ 5pm
What Jessie’s letter shows is not just the insane stigma that attached to divorce but also that the woman in any divorce was clearly at fault. If husband 2 had known that husband 1 was a divorcee, *of course* he would assume that Jessie was a harlot marriage-wrecking slut.
What makes it even worse is that women themselves kept this stigma going, being the ones who always assumed the worst of a woman in a divorce case. This is how the Daily Mail makes its money to this day: a constant sniping at women, undermining them, making them feel bad, making them always be the aggressor and the tramp, making them grateful for the crusts when they’re entitled to the full loaf. And women buy it in their millions.