A couple decades later, the 1970s rolled around and the Women’s Rights Movement took hold. By midcentury, some rules had relaxed but many stipulations for women remained stubbornly in place, particularly those pertaining to personal appearance and interactions with men.
“How was your day?” should be rephrased to, “I hope you had a pleasant day.” Those suggestions were on the mild end of a spectrum that ultimately set an exhausting manifesto for constant self-awareness. Women were encouraged to never indulge in more than one glass of champagne and never to ask direct questions. In 1880 a publication entitled, “The Habits of Good Society” hit bookshelves in the U.S., outlining, in no uncertain terms, all the ways in which guests (particularly women) should conduct themselves in social settings.
