How could people back in 50's and 60's have been so cruel?

I know people that this happened too.

Cruelty was not the operative word. Sometimes it was considered a form of acceptable punishment for violating a societal edict. Sometimes it was considered compassionate since the girl would be able to go on with her life without the stigma attached.

Times were so different. Out-of-wedlock pregnancies were shameful. I, for one, don't want to go back to those days but I'm not fond of the current attitude that says all pregnancies are perfect. A 14-year-old CHILD having & keeping a baby is, quite simply, wrong. At some point, many of these girls resent the restriction a child places on their lives and they rebel by exhibiting poor parenting.

Studies have shown that teens have poor impulse control (it hasn't had time to develop properly). Then the idea of keeping the baby is glorified by Hollywood and their peers and the girl loses her youth quickly. Of course, sometimes it works out but I've seen the toll this takes on families (by looking at my own extended family).

It's too bad that there isn't something between total shame and total acceptance. The burder on young women hasn't gone away...it's just changed the focus.

These "homes for unwed mothers" were NOT the worst. You should read up on the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland; in essence, these locations became slave-labor camps for young women "in moral danger".

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/04/04/10489...

You can find a petition urging the Prime Minister to offer an official apology to these women and to offer redress to the victims. Please consider signing this petition.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/leadership-needed...

And things changed didn't they?

Young women were not just coerced into giving up their babies, they were also coersed into marriages which were doomed from the start. You are reading how things were. Change comes slowly, but it did come. And you can thank those who saw....as you saw...and did something about it.

You need to understand what happened within the context of what was socially acceptable. The standard was to; find a partner, get married, have children. This was society's expectation. It didn't really happen that way, any more than it does today. But that was the belief. So, if that was the way it was to be, then there had to be an escape route for those young women who didn't conform. Most saw the homes set up for "Unwed Mothers" as a kindness to them. They didn't fit in with the norm and being exposed to the looks and harsh opinions of the outside world would have been painful as well. Kind hearted, and well meaning people wanted to help them be happy. (I didn't say it was right. I said that was the motivation)

As for the labels that were attached to the girls who didn't conform. It is always the case when one is different. There is a tendency to blame and demonize. That is human nature. We, in 2010, understand the error of that tendency,and thus there is a greater attempt at tolerance, inclusiveness, and equity. What you saw in the book, was how far we have progressed. And it was because of individuals, like yourself, who said, "This is wrong. We must change it".

With the change in attitude toward sexuality, we do see a whole different approach. And we see a difference in how we view others' choices in life. The time line has moved on. And such a monumental change took place in only my lifetime. Remarkable!

Thinking was different then. By definition, a girl who became pregnant before marriage was a slut, even she only did it once. This brought great shame to the family, who would send her off somewhere.

I was in grade 12 in 1976/77, and a grade 11 girl became pregnant (the daughter of the school Guidance Counsellor, who was also an Anglican Priest!). She refused to leave school, insisting that her education was her future, and extremely important. She was allowed to stay in school, but she was the first in my area that was able to do so.

Remember, in those days, "good girls" did not have sex, let alone get pregnant!

There was and still is a moral code that society is to abide by. Because more people based their morals on biblical teachings, fornication was considered a no no. You were to wait until you married to be intimate with a man. If you went outside that box many girls were labeled when they became pregnant. This was considered shameful to the family. In my day, whatever your behavior was in public represented how well your parents reared you. So it was a stigma. Sometimes people make mistakes and yes we should be more forgiving but that was the way it was at that time. I use to wonder what "family skeleton" meant as a kid, maybe this was one of the things.

Now there are no more morals and people do anything they want and make up their own moral code. I prefer to have guidance myself.

People were very strict for many different reason with out of marriage pregnancies.

Some found it to be against their religious beliefs to have a baby out of wedlock.

There was also before the 50's and before there were drugs aroung to cure STD's the very real fact that you could die from contracting a STD. If you didn't die and a baby passed through the birth canal of an infected women, the baby could get the STD into it's eyes and be blind or worst.

It was considered a shame to the whole family to have a daughter that would "sleep around"

Families used to " quarantee" their daughters were virgins before her future husband's family would offer any financial support to the young couple.They wanted to know their grandchild was actually theirs.

I am sure there are as many reasons as people in the world. A womens virtue was the only thing she had that she could give her husband since in the past women couldn't really work or own property.

It is sad to give your baby away but I think most young women in the past knew the deal before they got themselves pregnant.Most parents went through great lenghts to make sure their daughters weren't alone long enough with any man for anything to happen to their virtue.

Young women always traveled in groups or had an older lady with them in public.

Having babies outside of marriage is still unacceptable. Just because a few hollywood millionaires do it doesn't make it right. Most girls who had sex before marriage got married if they got pregnant because it was with the boy they were going to marry anyway. Abortion has always been considered wrong by people of morals unless it was to save the life of the mother.

It might have been coercion, but I'll bet a lot of those babies were better off being adopted. It's too bad it's not talked up more. The TV talks shows make it sound glamourous, talking about baby bumps and all that. The girls who got pregnant weren't sluts they were just good girls who had a lot of misinformation. I can't open your link, can you post a better one?

I'm going to assume, temporarily, that you're not a troll. Back then, it was the good girls who got pregnant; the bad girls knew how to avoid it. Of course, they weren't sluts, they just loved a boy and thought he loved them back. Who is the author of this book? I'd love to read it, and I'm due for a trip to the library. Your link didn't work for me.

Okay, saw your link. You are nothing but a shill, and I'm sorry I thought you were sincere.

Do you think it's kinder to encourage promiscuous behavior that results in unwanted children?

In those days, addicted newborns were beyond even the imagination, STD didn't run rampant.

The family was still considered sacred and men didn't want to marry girls who didn't have respect for her body and the social norms.

attitudes change with the times. it was considered shameful in those days to have sex before marriage or to live with someone without being married. sex was never talked about as it is now and if a single teenager became pregnant they were sometimes forced into marriage or sent away to a distant relative to have the baby, often pursuaded to have their child adopted. it all began to change in the 60's with the introduction of the birth control pill and more open talk about sex. so with the pill and other methods freely available inc. terminations, attitudes changed as people began to feel free in the fact that they could have sex without the fear of becoming pregnant.

not all young women were called sluts though, just the ignorant were name callers.