# How would you react to being sent to 1950s America? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 3, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299 "2014-04-03T23:17:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2014, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/1 "2014-04-03T23:17:46Z")
There are two very different streams of responses to [this thread “What would you do if you had to live in 1950s America?”](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17256196&posted=1#post17256196). I’d like to explore who is in which camp. Poll to follow, based on gender, sexual orientation, religion, and racial classification. If this works. I’ve never done this before. Be gentle. ---
**Author:** ![mikecu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@mikecu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecu)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/2 "2014-04-04T00:30:33Z")
I’d be pissed that my cell phone doesn’t work anymore. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/3 "2014-04-04T01:01:49Z")
White female, 60. I could easily get by as a Christian, depending on the denomination I might be require to pretend to belong to. I’d bloody hate it, though. I loved the 50s as a child but what did I know? ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/4 "2014-04-04T01:26:15Z")
Early results: People most likely to respond: Straight females, (apparently) white & christian Reaction: Shoot me now. Most common male reaction: I could make it work Least responsive group: Gay/Bi/Trans (Sorry if I phrased the options inappropriately) ---
**Author:** ![AtomicDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@AtomicDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicDog)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/5 "2014-04-04T04:56:16Z")
Black straight male atheist. I was born in Charleston in the fifties. Visit? Hell, yes. Live there for the rest of my life? Hell, no! ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/6 "2014-04-04T05:20:43Z")
I would never want to do it (or to go to any other time period, if only because of my loved ones and my fear of change) but I could live. I don’t want to be a '50s housewife or whatever but in the situation presented in the other thread, I wouldn’t have to, so it would suck in a lot of ways, but whatever, I could live and it would certainly be interesting in some ways. Without financial concerns, family pressure, or peer pressure, I could pretty much do what I wanted. Now, if I had to marry some suburban '50s white guy right out of high school and have several kids and be a housewife and make disgusting meat gelatin molds every day…then yeah, just shoot me now. I can live in the '50s as a weirdo but trying to fit in well with the '50s is beyond my scope. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/7 "2014-04-04T13:23:43Z")
Straight white Christian male. I could make it work, I’m sure, but no way I’d choose to go back. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/8 "2014-04-04T13:33:53Z")
That stone-knives-and-bearskins hellhole? Forget it. ---
**Author:** ![BorgHunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@BorgHunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BorgHunter)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/9 "2014-04-04T15:28:39Z")
Depends. What kind of Internet speed would I be looking at? ‘Cause if the 50s doesn’t at least have DSL-ish speeds, forget it. I’m not downloading Marilyn Monroe pictures on fuggin’ dial-up. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/10 "2014-04-04T15:39:23Z")
Bi-male, white, but I grew up in Northern Idaho, so I’ve had ample training. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/11 "2014-04-04T15:47:00Z")
Straight Black male raised in a far more liberal Western US: I’d do poorly. Then again, I would probably relocate to Western Europe or Canada and live out the remainder of my life there if I found that I was unable to make a difference where I was. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/12 "2014-04-04T16:14:51Z")
I’m a straight white male and I was raised Catholic so I could fake the Christian part. So I could get by in the fifties if I had to but there’s no way I’d do it by choice if I could stay in the present. ---
**Author:** ![Not\_a\_Platypus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d26b3c/32.png) [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/13 "2014-04-04T17:02:24Z")
I’m an agnostic white woman and I could pass as a straight Christian, but I’d rather not. I’d probably find a way to use my knowledge of the future to get rich quick, so I could at least avoid the regular working world. Maybe working in the 1950s wouldn’t be so bad as a white man, but as a woman… yeesh. No thanks. I can get behind the idea of being seen as just some rich eccentric; you can get away with a hell of a lot more when you’ve got money. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/14 "2014-04-04T17:27:23Z")
Where in the US are we being sent? Because I’d probably be okay in NYC or San Francisco but they’d kill my darkie ass the second I talked to a white girl elsewhere. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/15 "2014-04-04T17:34:47Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Bi-male, white, but I grew up in Northern Idaho, so I’ve had ample training. I have been throughout much of Northern Idaho, I think you misread the thread title, it says _ **19** _50s, you seem to be off by about a century. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/16 "2014-04-04T21:58:05Z")
Results after one day: More men have responded than women. Only men have been completely positive. GLBT are still the least responsive group. The most consistent response is from those who can/will not pass as “straight White Christians”. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/17 "2014-04-04T22:05:48Z")
Straight white male, 6’, blonde, blue-eyed, university educated. Sign me up! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/18 "2014-04-05T13:24:45Z")
No problem . . . except for the “Christian” part. And being shoved back into the closet. I know what it was like to be gay in the 50s, and that would be a huge problem. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/19 "2014-04-05T14:35:47Z")
White female. If I could move out to a big, remote farm, I’d be OK. The suburban thing where I’d be expected to play housewife would be irritating, but better than death. So, sure. If I must. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299/20 "2014-04-05T14:48:17Z")
Surely, it would depend a great deal on your financial status - If you are rich, it wouldn’t matter that much what your religious views or sexuality are. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-react-to-being-sent-to-1950s-america/685299.md?page=2)