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The jet sex : airline stewardesses and the making of an American icon
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ISBN: 0812244818 1322511934 0812207742 Year: 2013 Publisher: Philadelphia, Penn. : University of Pennsylvania Press,

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In the years after World War II, the airline stewardess became one of the most celebrated symbols of American womanhood. Stewardesses appeared on magazine covers, on lecture circuits, and in ad campaigns for everything from milk to cigarettes. Airlines enlisted them to pose for publicity shots, mingle with international dignitaries, and even serve (in sequined minidresses) as the official hostesses at Richard Nixon's inaugural ball. Embodying mainstream America's perfect woman, the stewardess was an ambassador of femininity and the American way both at home and abroad. Young, beautiful, unmarried, intelligent, charming, and nurturing, she inspired young girls everywhere to set their sights on the sky. In The Jet Sex, Victoria Vantoch explores in rich detail how multiple forces-business strategy, advertising, race, sexuality, and Cold War politics-cultivated an image of the stewardess that reflected America's vision of itself, from the wholesome girl-next-door of the 1940's to the cosmopolitan glamour girl of the Jet Age to the sexy playmate of the 1960's. Though airlines marketed her as the consummate hostess-an expert at pampering her mostly male passengers, while mixing martinis and allaying their fears of flying-she bridged the gap between the idealized 1950's housewife and the emerging "working woman." On the international stage, this select cadre of women served as ambassadors of their nation in the propaganda clashes of the Cold War. The stylish Pucci-clad American stewardess represented the United States as middle class and consumer oriented-hallmarks of capitalism's success and a stark contrast to her counterpart at Aeroflot, the Soviet national airline. As the apotheosis of feminine charm and American careerism, the stewardess subtly bucked traditional gender roles and paved the way for the women's movement. Drawing on industry archives and hundreds of interviews, this vibrant cultural history offers a fresh perspective on the sweeping changes in twentieth-century American life.


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Cabin pressure : African American pilots, flight attendants, and emotional labor
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ISBN: 1442221364 9781442221369 1299797660 9781299797666 9781442221352 1442221356 Year: 2013 Publisher: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.,

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From African American pilots being asked to carry people's luggage to patrons refusing drinks from black flight attendants, Cabin Pressure demonstrates that racism is still very much alive in the "friendly skies." The book draws on interviews with African Americans in the flight industry to examine the emotional labor involved in a business that offers prestige, but also a history that excludes people of color.


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Plane queer
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ISBN: 0520955307 9780520955301 0520274768 0520274776 9781299051553 1299051553 9780520274761 9780520274778 9780520274761 9780520274778 Year: 2013 Publisher: Berkeley University of California Press

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In this vibrant new history, Phil Tiemeyer details the history of men working as flight attendants. Beginning with the founding of the profession in the late 1920's and continuing into the post-September 11 era, Plane Queer examines the history of men who joined workplaces customarily identified as female-oriented. It examines the various hardships these men faced at work, paying particular attention to the conflation of gender-based, sexuality-based, and AIDS-based discrimination. Tiemeyer also examines how this heavily gay-identified group of workers created an important place for gay men to come out, garner acceptance from their fellow workers, fight homophobia and AIDS phobia, and advocate for LGBT civil rights. All the while, male flight attendants facilitated key breakthroughs in gender-based civil rights law, including an important expansion of the ways that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act would protect workers from sex discrimination. Throughout their history, men working as flight attendants helped evolve an industry often identified with American adventuring, technological innovation, and economic power into a queer space.

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