I think this article was about how boys in the 1950s had freedom like I did didn't usually tell adults what they were up to.
The reason for this is simple but maybe people today wouldn't understand this.
But, in the 1950s you were being prepared to be a man even at age 4. So, you often were allowed to make decisions that might cost you your life in preparation for this just like all the boys who came before you down through history. So, you made decisions often just like a man regarding friends and guns and knives and all the rest and sometimes boys died or were injured in all sorts of ways.
Starting with the Viet Nam war both boys and girls were infantalized more (which means treated like babies so maybe they could never grow up. It reminds me of how lap dogs are treated so they could never survive in the wilds to some degree.
If you want a boy to be strong enough as an adult to deal with anything he needs almost complete freedom after ages 4 or 5 in order to become a man in earnest. Otherwise often he doesn't ever make it to being what a man was in the 1950s.
However, somehow the Viet Nam War changed all this. But, I must admit another factor here is people live longer. When I grew up the life expectancy was at most around 70 and most people I knew died in their 30s or early 40s from overwork and heart disease. So, one of the factors is children stay children now until they are in their 30s or 40s.
There wasn't time for this when I grew up because in 1900 the life expectancy was only 60 and even in 1950 the life expectancy was only 70. Whereas now if you live to be 30 you can usually expect to live to be 90 these days (at least here in the U.S.).
However, it is also true that coronavirus has already knocked a year or two off the life expectancy of Americans and this is likely worse in Mexico through South America from coronavirus.
So, what happens next is sort of "up in the air" for all of us.
Anyway, I deleted the article simply because boys have lost so much in the freedom towards becoming a man compared to when I grew up. Men don't really become men anymore the way things presently are.
However, women aren't the way they used to be either.
People say things are better now. From my point of view living through the 1950s THEY ARE NOT BETTER just different. They are just different and that's all.
Are there more equal rights? Yes. This is true. So, in one sense the equality of rights in general is better. But, we don't live in an egalitarian society yet and it might take 1000 years to get there.
However, generally speaking it is much worse for men and for women (for the average woman) than it was in the 1950s. It's not better.
What do I mean by this?
Look at single women with children and how they are faring economically. They were doing better on every level in the 1950s economically at least than now.
And emotionally speaking it is horrific for men now compared to the 1950s.
So, like I said it is different than the 1950s but in regard to the lives that actual men and women live they are not happier than they were then.
Women have more rights but are cared for financially in much poorer ways in general than the 1950s.
And for men emotionally speaking they are in much worse shape than they were in the 1950s.
So, things are different but not better in this sense.
But, racial equality is much better now than then but that's a different issue than women's actual well being and men's actual well being. Both men and women's actual well being was better in the 1950s than now.
Children were financially better fed and taken care of in the 1950s than now too and had less physical and psychological problems than they do now too.
But, the reason for that then was medical care was still so bad that if you didn't have perfect physical health you usually had died by 10 or 12 already then.
So, trying to compare now to then is like trying to compare apples to oranges. There are just so many differences that it is no longer practical to make these comparisons.
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