Rosie the Riveter vs Norma Jeane Baker: Who Was Cooler?

[one_raven]

Who was cooler...
Rosie the Riveter
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usarra/poster.jpg

[/URL]

for proving that she can do what any man can do

or...
Norma Jeane Baker

for being what no man could ever be?

 

[zoobyshoe]

Originally posted by one_raven
for being what no man could ever be?

You're going to have to expand on what you mean by this.

 

[selfAdjoint]

Originally posted by one_raven
Who was cooler...
Rosie the Riveter
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usarra/poster.jpg

[/URL]

for proving that she can do what any man can do

or...
Norma Jeane Baker

for being what no man could ever be?

I haven't got a picture, but my suggestion for a synthesis to this contradiction is Eleanor Roosevelt.

 

[Monique]

If the person in the picture were male, I'd choose the latter too. So what's the point?

edit: proof of concept, remember this picture?
http://home.student.uva.nl/monique.vandervoet/eyesclosed.jpg

 

[one_raven]

Well, it's really a question of what aspects you value in women, I suppose.

Originally posted by zoobyshoe
You're going to have to expand on what you mean by this.

Norma Jeane Baker (Marilyn Monroe before she became Hollywood's dirty little crack-whore) is considered around the world, by many people, to be the epitome of female sexuality and femininity.

Not only is she considered, the world over, to be one of the sexist women ever, but she was (at least partly) responsible for the movement that allowed women to embrace their sexuality rather than hide it away and keep it behind closed doors for their husband's eyes only.

Rosie the Riveter was the mascot for the other women's revolution.
She represented the other end of the spectrum, in a sense.
She was the image of women in the workforce.
Women doing men's jobs, getting dirty, embracing their traditionally masculine side.

Norma Jeane is the poster-girl for the sexual liberation in women and the sweet femininity that women have traditionally encompassed.
Rosie is the poster-girl for the industrial liberation of women and the fierce strength and "masculinity" available in women.

 

[Loren Booda]

Since what we are dealing with here is image, we can "morph" the more desirable qualities from each. Both represent to me the uphill battle for pride of women despite the expectations of 20th century America. Most of us put in the public spotlight would fall short compared to past and future characterizations of popular persona.

Marilyn was all too human, where Rosie would be superhuman. Marilyn endured a great deal of stress and pain, where Rosie's masculinity could be seen as "sexy" to those hitherto unaccustomed to such display.

one_raven, re-read your slippage in calling Marilyn Monroe "sexist" as opposed to "sexiest."

 

[jimmy p]

i choose Norma Jeane Baker

 

[zoobyshoe]

One_Raven, I still really don't know what you're asking. You assert that Marylin was cool for being what no man could ever be and define what you mean by that with the explanation she was considered the sexiest woman ever and an example for other women to follow.

Why should we consider her cool on the grounds that she accomplished something that no man except a transvestite would even care to attempt?

 

[Math Is Hard]

But Marilyn was a "Rosie the Riveter" for a time. She worked in a factory during the war. That's where she got discovered by a photographer!

 

[Math Is Hard]

http://www.marilynmonroe.netfirms.com/monroe2_5.html
In June of 1946, Norma Jeane married Jimmy Dougherty. She was sixteen and he was 21. They had been dating for only 6 months. Jimmy was sent of to the Marines in the South Pacific a year later, so Marilyn began working at an airplane factory in Burbank, California. One day, a photographer was taking pictures in the factory of women helping the war effort and saw Marilyn. He was so impressed with her look that he gave her the shoot and began to offer her more modeling jobs. She began to appear on covers of fashion magazines all over the country. She even started taking drama classes to boost her career.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I had no idea that's how she got started. I has assumed she had pursued it on her own from the start as the result of a lifelong ambition. Funny how she got into it by accidental "discovery".

It is equally strange to think of her as a "Rosie". Quite out of character.