Scott Edelman writes, “The 1954 comic book Dream Book of Romance turns out to have been pretty progressive for its day.”
In the issue’s lead story ‘Woman of Shame,’ after Nancy’s father dies, she drops out of college and takes a job as a night club ‘snapshot girl’ in order to support herself and her aged mother. Nancy’s boyfriend Tom tracks her down, and is horrified by where she’s working and what she’s wearing, because, ‘I thought you were a decent girl!’
How did Nancy react? By saying that “There’s nothing wrong with the work I do,” returning her engagement ring, and calling Tom “a narrow-minded snob!”
Kudos to Nancy, and to whichever (unfortunately uncredited) comics writer decided to let her give slut-shaming the smackdown it deserved.
How slut-shaming went down (and was smacked down) in a 1954 romance comic
(Thanks, Scott!)