Tips For Tramps: When A Girl Is A Tease (1952)


Ladies, are you a woman that briefly looks at a man you find attractive with a sexy gaze and then averts your eyes? Have you ever dropped something in front of him so he could pick it up and hand it back to you? Then guess what -- by 1952's standards, you're a certifiable slut!

This highly informative article comes from the November 1952 issue of "The Boyfriend And the Girlfriend" magazine; a juicy find on Flickr credited to the user clotho98. Don't worry if you can't read the copy; we're going to zoom in on each section here so you can see exactly what it takes to be a bad girl. I could see where some of this behavior was considered slutty in the 1950s, but on the other hand it makes you wonder just exactly how a woman was supposed to flirt in the decade. Well, let's a take a look here and see what exactly the loosey gooseys were doing in 1952 to snag an unsuspecting man...


The opening copy reads:

"High on every boy's list of pet peeves is the type of girl shown on these and the next two pages. Why? Because she is a teaser. Almost all girls that are pretty flirt a little. It's the natural thing to do. But a girl who is a teaser is not content with simple, wholesome flirting; she goes out of her way to bait boys with an obvious display of her physical charms -- baits them with unspoken promises that she hasn't the slights intention of fulfilling. In addition to her other unflattering qualities, therefore, a teaser is dishonest. She has no real sincere interest in the boys whose attention she sets out to capture; she is simply playing a game in which she holds all of the cards and doesn't mind resorting to the cheapest of tricks. A few of these tricks are illustrated here. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. But whether they are successful or not, a teaser never wins in the long run. For no boy wants to marry a girl who enjoys showing off her charms to others."

Ah, I get it. Well, there is a lot of truth in that and that hasn't changed much today. Very few men would want to marry a woman that constantly flirts with other men and vice versa.

"When she straightens the seams of her stockings with a great show of her legs, she is testing. Nice girls never go that far where boys can see them."


"When she looks at a boy she has never met, or has just been introduced to, with half-lidded eyes and lips poised to be kissed, she is teasing."

(I believe this is what the Grass Roots were singing about when they recorded "Temptation Eyes.")


"When she favors a boy with provocative, sidelong glances while she pretends to be fixing her hair or freshening her face, she is teasing."

This doesn't happen that often because most women use the ladies room today when checking their appearance. Having said that, I believe men do like it if you casually run a hand through your hair or gently brush your neck/clavicle area with your fingers.

Moving on, here what the next two pages look like before we zoom in on each tip.



"When she habitually wears a tight-fitting sweater and a tight-fitting skirt which boldly outline her figure, she is teasing."

Totally disagree with this one. I'd say she's confident with her body and appearance. Her outfit is sexy, not slutty, by today's standards...and shows off just the right amount of leg. We now live in a world where people wear sweatpants and pajamas to the supermarket and some women don't know how to dress sexy or simply don't care.


"When she drops her purse and stoops to pick up the spilled contents with her dress above the knees, she is teasing."

GREAT tip! (Filing away in noggin for future use.)


"When she looks over her shoulder with a lingering gland and a half smile of invitation, she is teasing."

Guess what? 100% of dating coaches today give this very advice. Maybe not glancing over your shoulder, but holding a gaze, smiling and then looking away often works wonders.


"When she invites a boy to light her cigarette and looks deep into his eyes the whole time he is doing it, she is teasing."

How many times have we seen this move done in old films? Again, I have to disagree that this is questionable behavior, as long as the girl's attraction is sincere.

"When she fixes her garter in public, where anyone is likely to see her (and she hopes that they will), she is teasing."

Well this one is irrelevant -- women today don't wear garters, nylon stockings, or even pantyhose anymore.

"When she appears on the beach in a bathing suit that is briefer and more revealing than a nice girl lets herself be seen in, she is teasing."

Revealing, huh? Just these magazine editors wait until the thong bikini is introduced!

Well, I don't know about you, but I'm awfully glad I don't live in the year 1952. Maybe it's time to stop being such a nice girl...

4 comments:

  1. Oh I don't know, the author is just trying to spare boys some blue balls...excuse me, "sexual frustration".

    Also, with the cigarette-lighting picture, I think the unspoken issue here is her cleavage.

    But yeah, there are, I'm sure, good tips for the very traditional and religiously-inclined folks, but otherwise the author didn't leave most women much weaponry left to use.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think it's hilarious that when I was reading this post, ads for dating sites featuring women who definitely look like a 'tease', are on the page.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow! Very funny. I wonder if this article was written by an man. I can imagine it must have been awfully dangerous for all the well-behaved gentlemen in the Fifties to meet a alluring tramp like the above described. This reminds of the movie „Pleasantville“, where every woman has to be neat and well-behaved and a humble slave to the laws of her husband … until it all changed.
    That’s why i love the Sixties so much … the shortest skirts, the massive hair, the wild music and the ‚free‘ love. Yeah!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Haha- we all know that the guys reading the magazine just want to see sexy photos of women- maybe they don't want to admit it so frame the 'article'as an expression of their disapproval of the immorality of women. Result- they can condemn the 'teases' while also oggling their cleavage. Ingenious!

    ReplyDelete

Powered by Blogger.