The Trouble with Normal: Postwar Youth and the Making of Heterosexuality

252 Pages·1997·13.89 MB·English

by  Mary Louise Adams

THE TROUBLE WITH NORMAL:
POSTWAR YOUTH AND THE MAKING OF
HETEROSEXUALITY
In the years after the Second World War, economic and social factors
combined to produce an intense concern over the sexual development
and behaviour of young people. In a context where heterosexuality and
'normality' were understood to be synonymous and assumed to be nec-
essary for social and national stability, teenagers were the target of a
range of materials and practices meant to turn young people into proper
heterosexuals.
In this study, Mary Louise Adams explores discourses about youth
and their place in the production and reproduction of heterosexual
norms. She examines debates over juvenile delinquency, indecent litera-
ture, and sex education to show not why heterosexuality became a pecu-
liar obsession in English Canada after the Second World War, as much as
how it came to hold such sway. Drawing on feminist theory, cultural
studies, and lesbian/gay studies, The Trouble with Normal is the first
Canadian study of 'youth' as a sexual and moral category. Adams looks
not only at sexual material aimed at teenagers but also at sexual dis-
courses generally, for what they had to say about young people and for
the ways in which 'youth,' as a concept, made those discourses work.
She argues that postwar insecurities about young people narrowed the
sexual possibilities for both young people and adults.
While much of the recent history of sexuality examines sexuality 'from
the margins/ The Trouble with Normal is firmly committed to examining
the 'centre,' to unpacking normality itself. As the first book-length study
of the history of sexuality in postwar Canada, it will make an important
contribution to the growing international literature on sexual regulation.
MARY LOUISE ADAMS is an assistant professor in the School of Physical
and Health Education at Queen's University.
STUDIES IN GENDER AND HISTORY
General editors: Franca lacovetta and Craig Heron
MARY LOUISE ADAMS
The Trouble with Normal:
Postwar Youth and the
Making of Heterosexuality
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
University of Toronto Press Incorporated 1997
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-4202-3 (cloth)
ISBN 0-8020-8057-X (paper)
Printed on acid-free paper
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Adams, Mary Louise, 1960-
The trouble with normal: postwar youth and the making of heterosexuality
(Studies in gender and history series)
Includes index.
ISBN 0-8020-4202-3 (bound) ISBN 0-8020-8057-X (pbk.)
1. Heterosexuality. 2. Young adults - Canada - Sexual behavior.
3. Youth - Canada - Sexual behavior. 4. Youth - Canada - Social
conditions. 5. Canada - Social conditions -1945- I. Title. II. Series.
HQ27.A321997 306.76'4'09710945 C97-931083-0
Every effort has been made to obtain permission to reproduce the photo-
graphs that appear in this book. Any errors or omissions brought to our atten-
tion will be corrected in future printings.
'The Trouble with Normal.' Words by Bruce Cockburn. © 1983 Golden Music
Corp. Taken from the True North album The Trouble with Normal. Used by
permission.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities
and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its pub-
lishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts
Council.
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
1 Introduction 3
2 Sexuality and the Postwar Domestic 'Revival' 18
3 Hope for the Future or Repercussions of the Past: Discursive
Constructions of Youth 39
4 Youth Gone Bad: The Sexual Meaning of Delinquency 53
5 'Why Can't I Be Normal?': Sex Advice for Teens 83
6 Sex Goes to School: Debates over Sex Education in Toronto
Schools 107
7 Manipulating Innocence: Corruptibility, Youth, and the Case
against Obscenity 136
8 Conclusion 166
NOTES 173
SOURCES 197
ILLUSTRATION CREDITS 215
INDEX 217
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Acknowledgments
The Trouble with Normal began life as a doctoral dissertation at the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. The early stages of the project
were punctuated by the AIDS-related deaths of two close friends. Peter
McGehee died at the age of thirty-five, in the fall of 1991. His lover,
Doug Wilson, died at the age of forty-one, exactly one year later. In some
way these two events are part of this book and, for me, Doug and
Peter's memories will always be tied to it.
During the years I worked on the dissertation, I was fortunate to be
immersed in a supportive and challenging community of feminist aca-
demics and activists - one that I now fear I took too much for granted at
the time. In particular I want to thank the members of the sex/history
study group who 'pushed' this and many of my other productions over
the years: Debi Brock, Karen Dubinsky, Julie Guard, Margaret Little,
Becki Ross, and Carolyn Strange. Thanks also to members of the
women's history group, many of whom made comments on early bits of
the manuscript and from whom I learned much about the writing of his-
tory: Himani Bannerji, Chris Burr, Karen Dubinsky, Franca lacovetta,
Maureen McCarthy, Janice Newton, Susan Prentice, Tori Smith, Carolyn
Strange, Mariana Valverde, and Cynthia Wright. And, thanks to the
members of the thesis-writing group organized by Kari Dehli in the
Department of Sociology at OISE.
The book, of course, would not exist were it not for the generosity and
support of friends and family. My mother, Betty Adams, shared with me
her recollections of Toronto in the 1940s. Her stories were part of the
original motivation for the project. Karen Dubinsky answered questions,
from the theoretically complex to the plain silly, and helped me keep the
writing in perspective. She lent books, copied articles, and supplied me
viii Acknowledgments
with gossip in those weeks when I wasn't getting out enough. Kate
McKenna was a good neighbour and a reassuring sounding board at
critical moments. Eric Mykhalovskiy read drafts of early chapters, and
they are better now for his having done so. Steven Maynard, Rob Cham-
pagne, and Cynthia Wright offered advice and references. Daintry Nor-
man helped me procrastinate and made sure I continued to talk about
things other than the history of sexuality.
This project benefited greatly from the intellectual guidance of my
supervisor, Kari Dehli. I am especially thankful for her encouragement,
pragmatism, and organizational talents, both during and after the dis-
sertation. The other members of what grew to be a very large disserta-
tion committee - James Heap, Ruth Roach Pierson, Kathy Peiss, David
Rayside, Roger Simon, and Mariana Valverde - contributed insightful
comments and helpful criticisms that proved invaluable as I was prepar-
ing the manuscript for the book. I also would like to thank the ten people
who agreed to be interviewed during the initial stages of my research.
Their memories and insights helped to determine the direction the
project would eventually take.
At the University of Toronto Press, Franca lacovetta provided use-
ful comments on early revisions of the manuscript. Gerald Hallo well's
enthusiasm for the project and his sound logistical and editorial advice
made it a pleasure to work with him. Emily Andrew's efficiency and
gentle nudging - at always the right time - helped to keep me on track.
Margaret Allen's excellent copy-editing has made this book more user-
friendly.
My research was made possible by the collections and the work of
archivists at the City of Toronto Archives, the Metro Toronto Archives,
the Toronto Board of Education Archives, the Toronto Harbour Commis-
sion Archives, the Archives of Ontario, and the National Archives of
Canada. In particular, I would like to thank John Choules and Stormie
Stewart at the Archives of Ontario and Rick Prelinger, of Prelinger and
Associates, for giving me access to an amazing collection of educational
films. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council provided
much-needed financial support.
Finally, I want to thank Helen Humphreys for living with me and the
book, in all its incarnations, and for helping us both to be much better
than we would have been without her.
THE TROUBLE WITH NORMAL