#bluestocking

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#testament = lesbian archival history

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#me = photos of myself

Queen of the Blues

Contrary to appearances, the blue stockings do not concern only the students themselves, but also their guest. We need to go back to the 1750s when the Blue Stocking Society was founded. It was a loose organization of privileged women interested in education who gathered to discuss literature, inviting educated men to participate. European fashion of the mid-18th century, in which black stockings were worn with formal wear and blue stockings were worn during the day or more casually, emphasizing the informal nature of club meetings. The most common such reference is to a man, Benjamin Stillingfleet, who reportedly did not wear formal black stockings and yet belonged to the Blue Stockings Society [1].

Thanks to the strong personality of another famous salon owner and writer, Elizabeth Montagu, the so-called Queen of the Blues, the term bluestocking soon came to refer to all literary women. Until the 20th century, there was much criticism of girls acquiring knowledge because, according to the prevailing stereotype, it eliminated them from being a good wife and mother. The opposite of bluestocking and other popular-culture image was the sweet girl graduate who used her education to find and impress her future husband [L. Peril, College Girls. Bluestockings, Sex Kittens, and Coeds, Then and Now, 2006 , pp. 28-31].

Collégienne look

Compared to the 18th century, today skirts have become much shorter, revealing the knees and with them the socks (but not particularly blue) . In the 20th century, along with clothing, the perception of female sexuality also changed. Back then, there was a double view of the image of a school girl: Bluestockings in class, and silk hose and silver slippers in the evening [E. Eldridge, Co-ediquette: Poise and Popularity for Every Girl, 1936, p. 136]. Although some believed that a student's appearance must correspond to her age: Moreover, the boy who invited Sally to the house party likes her as he remembered her at home and does not want a blase woman who looks thirty-five in her place [E. Post, Etiquette, 1942, p. 339].

Long-lasting erotic symbol

Over time in the 1950s, men's magazines discovered the cute and innocent college girl. And they began to show her as first in a school uniform, and later as a half-naked object of gazes. It wasn't until the late 1960s that they featured full nudity or even frontal views, and scantily clad female students seemed to be one of the delights of school life.

However, the 1950s are not the starting point for combining eroticism with young, studying girls. Almost from the very beginning, the student was surrounded by a rapidly commercialized aura of eroticism: At the turn of the twentieth century, the college girl was as much an object of public interest as Civil War battlefields or the natural wonders of Yosemite [L. Peril, College Girls..., p. 311].

Now I'm left to ask my favorite question when analyzing any cultural phenomenon, why does it work?

The characters are not one dimensional, they can be contrary, adorable, vulnerable both of them, insecure and imperfect. I loved their internal dialogues and how these thoughts and their dialogues make them grow and evolve. Especially John, who was the one with the biggest trauma, despite Catherine being the most affected by what happened in the past.