Neglected Outsiders Anti-Defamation Society

The sixties were an interesting time, full of social unrest and upheaval. We could write an entire essay on how many of the problems in today's culture began as social experiments in the sixties, but that could not be done without acknowledging the giant steps taken forward during the sixties -- not necessarily because of the free love and hippie movements, which we believe to have been failures much like some of the rhetoric they were based on, such as communism -- steps such as the civil rights and women's liberation movements. They shared the same time frame and some of the same roots. Certainly they shared the same passion.

It is interesting to note, however, in Susie's "The Outsiders," no black people exist (they do make an appearance in TWTTIN) and girls play a very minor, supporting role. In fact, the only girls who make an actual appearance are the two rich girls, Marcia and Cherry. It's just another reminder "The Outsiders" is not concerned with sexual or racial equality. It's a book about the class divide and focuses wholly on that issue.

We did not expect an exploration of all the issues of the day, especially since the book is hardly a weighty tome and it was written by a teenager, albeit a very talented one. It is simply a good adventure romp which happens to take a look at an issue which hadn't received much attention since Sinclair claimed there might be a little more Italian in people's Italian sausages than they expected. It has the added benefit of some truly excellent characterization, something most writers understand you either have the talent for or not.

However, it is very firmly set in the time (without being dated, as a book exploring sexual inequality might be by this time), not only through the dialogue and small details (name five gas stations within your hometown which offer full service and don't charge extra for it), but in the attitudes of the characters.

Especially toward girls.

Throughout the story, girls and woman are extensions of men. Kathy is Two-Bit's girlfriend, and Mrs. Mathews is his mother. His sister doesn't even rate a name. Sylvia is Dallas' girlfriend, and Sandy and Evie are Sodapop's and Steve's. Mrs. Curtis is the Curtis boys' mother and their father's wife. She doesn't get a first name, either.

Even the two girls who actually appear, Marcia and Cherry, are extensions of the men in their lives. Marcia, despite her sense of humor, is very firmly Randy's girlfriend and an interest of Two-Bit's.

Cherry, the Soc girl who enjoyed sunsets and had dreams and insecurities, was not the one who showed Ponyboy things were rough all over; it was Bob's death and Randy's confiding he had been looking for boundaries which did that. We will credit her with opening Ponyboy's eyes to the possibility of it, although he himself initially rejects it in canon.

Cherry was Bob's girlfriend, and, even after his death, this is how she is identified.

She was able to spy on the Socs for the greasers because she was Bob's girlfriend. She felt responsible for the situation because, as Bob's girlfriend, her interaction with the greasers brought them to his notice, which, in turn, started the tragic turn of events ultimately leading up to the death of the three boys. As Bob's girlfriend, she couldn't bring herself to visit Johnny in the hospital, despite the fact she had liked Johnny as a person.

Even Cherry, the strongest female character, is limited because she is a girl.

In the Outsiders universe, girls and women are both defined and restricted by their relationship with the male characters.

This is why Mary Sue sticks out like a sore thumb.

We would estimate very few, if any, fanfiction authors grew up in the late forties and the fifties and thus have first-hand knowledge of living in a world where a woman wasn't expected to do much more than become a hairdresser or secretary, eventually marry and produce children. This is why research is important; if you don't understand what you are writing about, you appear a fool to those who do understand.

If an author did do research, they might learn a woman who was particularly ambitious might go to college and become a teacher or another profession considered suitable for women (a pregnant teacher usually was relieved of her duties once her condition was apparent, and the practice continued until the mid- to late-sixties, depending on the community). Those women who didn't marry, either through chance, obligation or desire, were dismissed at "old maids."

Women usually did not live alone. Most transitioned from their father's house to their husband's. Those who did leave home without a wedding ring usually lived in college dorms, sorority houses (which were much more circumspect then) or with other professional women (i.e. secretaries, clerks, typists and the like). Those who struck out on their own were looked at askance. 

This did not mean women had no social lives or were chained to their homes like slaves. Since many homes were one-income (meaning the male in the relationship was usually the breadwinner -- many women did not continue employment after being wed, and almost none did after having children), most women had more free time, especially with the invention of new mechanical devices such as washing machines and vacuum cleaners (imagine using a washtub and scrubbing board to do all your clothes).

There were women's clubs, churches and church groups and parent booster organizations. People participated in charitable groups, many of which had ladies auxiliaries. There were veterans' groups, volunteer fire departments and social clubs, like the Elks, which had such auxiliaries attached. 

In addition, there was more of a sense of community. Large shopping malls and large box stores were few and far between. Neighbors knew each other and shopped in the same small businesses, the owners of which usually lived in the community as well and were known to their customers.

There was no internet, and not every family -- especially poorer families such as the greasers -- owned a television set, let alone multiple ones. Of those homes which did have a set, there were only "The Big Three" -- CBS, NBC and ABC -- available, and they went to test patterns in the late evening and early morning. Color television didn't become available until the later half of the 1950s, and, again, it was expensive. There wasn't any cable or dishes.

Neither did every home had a telephone. In fact, so few did, ten-digit numbers weren't even necessary; phone numbers were a combination of letters and numbers. The instant access of cellphones, email and instant messenger was unknown. There wasn't a global information network, so when things happened halfway across the world, it took time for word to get back.

That was the world the greasers (and Susie Hinton) grew up in. It was a world where the neighborhood kids played together, because what else were they going to do all day? It was a world in which you gravitated to other people like you -- those of the same approximate age, the same gender and the same social class (their dad wasn't making much more than yours if they only lived four or five houses down). It was a world in which tradition and similarity wasn't only valued, but prized.

It was a world where boys grew up and got a job at the mill or the refinery, because their uncle or dad worked there and could get them a job. It was one in which the uncles and fathers of your neighborhood friends worked at that same mill and would be getting jobs for them as well. If you were lucky, you would belong to a union and thus work in an only mildly dangerous environment. If you were unlucky, it would only be as safe as the law dictated, and the law wasn't all that strong nor enforced very much at the time.

If you were middle-class, maybe you'd become a middle manager somewhere or go into the family business. If you were well-off, you might attend college and have your pick of careers, likely coming back to your hometown and becoming a professional, such as a doctor or bank manager.

This world had its faults -- most notable (and easiest to point out) racism, sexism and classism -- and it would shortly be obliterated by the world-changing events of the late sixties, but that was the world in which the greasers operated. Feminism was only a gleam in the eye of the forward-thinking in New York and San Francisco, and it wasn't even on the radar in the Southwest.

We have just spend a good deal of time and effort to make this point: Feminism did not exist in mid-sixties Tulsa, no matter how much of a rule-breaking, barrier-shattering heart-breaker you want your Sue to be.

Good girls wore skirts below the knee and didn't show off their cleavage. "Bad" girls wore shorter skirts (no microminis, even if it was the sixties -- the miniskirts then would hardly be considered daring now) and tighter blouses. Jeans were uncommon, although pants were not unheard of, they were usually capris or slacks. Girls didn't wear tennis shoes unless they were cheerleading, and since it wasn't very athletic at the time, they were more likely to wear saddle shoes.

Being a good girl wasn't all about the clothes or whether or not a girl ratted her hair (that was a bad-girl trait, by the way). It was about how a girl acted as well.

Girls usually didn't fight with other girls. It was considered low-class, fish-wife-style behavior. It happened, but rarely, and nice girls certainly didn't do it. Girls never got into brawls with boys (domestic disputes not withstanding).

Good girls did not drink themselves into drunkenness for the sheer hell of it. Even bad girls weren't doing keg stands. It would be extremely unlikely any woman would find herself drunk enough to perform a Mardi Gras-style flashing.

Girls weren't doing train-bangs. If a man wanted to see a lot of a woman without going through courting, he likely attended a burlesque show, which were the forebearers of strip clubs, although the women usually wore costumes which were much less revealing than what a modern stripper would wear.

In fact, there really aren't a lot of differences between the good girls of yesterday and today, although the "bad" girls of today are a whole different breed. They are more obnoxious, more promiscuous, more drunken and more lewd. They have less respect for themselves and others, and they tell themselves they are feminists.

Suethors, feminism isn't about beer chugging and spreading your legs so often you develop not one, but multiple, sexually transmitted diseases. It's not about calling your girlfriends bitches or treating other women who are dressing and acting in the same manner as you are like whores (although it does say a lot about your own self-image). It's not about pushing the limits and boundaries of appropriate behavior purely for the sake of it.

It's about having the same chances and standing on the same footing as men. It's about being a wife and mother because you want to be or being a senator because that's what you want to do. It's about being equal, not degrading yourself by flashing and flaunting everything you have to strangers in some desperate, sad bid for attention. It's not about turning yourself into some perverse one-note stereotypical party girl.

It's about the freedom to be who you are, not about the ability to destroy yourself.

So your bed-hopping, alcohol-swilling, curse-spewing brawler of a Mary Sue isn't just an anachronism, she is nowhere near cool nor is she a trail-blazing feminist out to show all the shy misses of Tulsa what they are missing. 

The way you present yourself is the way you will be treated by most people. If the greasers are presented with a girl who doesn't seem to respect herself or expect respect from others (and let's not get into "she fight people who treat her badly" nonsense -- if she acts like her body is a disposable convenience, then she has no true respect for herself and getting into brawls is only another facet of that behavior), then they are certainly not going to give her any respect.

They will treat her exactly as she invites herself to be treated. She will be used, likely sexually by Dallas or another male character who is less than tender-hearted, and dropped like a snotty tissue.

Dallas is not going to get down on one knee and propose to a girl who makes Sylvia look like a choir girl. Soda is not going to abandon his sainted Sandy for a girl who curses and acts like the worst stereotype of a truck driver. Sensitive Ponyboy isn't going to fall for a girl who thinks an appropriate greeting is "'S'up, beeeyotches?!" Shy Johnny isn't going to be head over heels about a girl whose vagina bears a resemblance to the Grand Canyon.

Since Steve, Two-Bit and Darry are asexual to most of the fandom, they are (mostly) safe, but even if they came to the attention of Mary Sue, we assure you they have enough respect for themselves not to date a girl whose drunken promiscuity would likely have them visiting a free clinic and urinating into a cup.

They would not like, respect or protect your "tough girl" Mary Sue. They would be disgusted by her and likely mock and abuse her. They are teenage boys, not therapists, and probably don't have the life experience or maturity to look beyond your self-insert's outlandish behavior and see an insecure girl with a deep-seated need for attention. Children can be cruel, and teenagers even worse.

When Mary Sue warps time, space and logic to make the characters do things ordinary people wouldn't do, let alone have them acting outside of their established canon characterization, this is bad writing.

And everyone knows how much we hate bad writing.

Should a blinged-out, celly-toting, belly-ring-wearing tattooed diva of today be dropped into the Outsiders world, the canon characters' reactions would probably be shock and astonishment.

So we are throwing out a gauntlet, so to speak: Is there any among you badfic warriors who has the iron stomach and madness to write a fic in which an actual suethor is dropped into the Outsiders, while keeping the boys in character and the setting accurate?

We'd dearly love to see it.