If Books Could Kill

In 1995 a bestselling book proposed a simple dating strategy for women: Lose weight, wear bright colors and become a completely different person for the rest of your life.

Thanks to Moira Donegan for helping us with this episode!

Support us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Where to find us: 

• Twitter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America 
• Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s essay, “Stuff Your ‘Rules’” 
• The More Things Change: The Rules And Late Eighteenth‐Century Conduct Books For Women 
• Shrinking Violets and Caspar Milquetoasts: Shyness and Heterosexuality from the Roles of the Fifties to "The Rules" of the Nineties 
• From Mountain Peak to Total Woman: An Evolutionary History of Pre-feminist Dating Advice 
• The Mating Game: How Gender Still Shapes How We Date by Ellen Lamont 
• So Many Rules, So Little Time 
• Abiding by The Rules: Instructing Women in Relationships 
• What leads to romantic attraction: similarity, reciprocity, security, or beauty? Evidence from a speed-dating study 
• "Playing Hard To Get": Understanding An Elusive Phenomenon 
• Egalitarian Daters, Traditionalist Dates 
• Aspirational pursuit of mates in online dating markets 
• Disintermediating your friends: How online dating in the United States displaces other ways of meeting 
• Playing Hard To Get 

 Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!