1950s+Teenagers+KYAP

__Condemned Entertainment__ Teenagers of the 1950's were able to to distinguish and individualize themselves apart from prior generations with the new music of the decade. Rock 'n' roll played a huge role in giving adolescences of the 1950's an identity. Distinct dances were created to match the music of rock'n'roll and was displayed through a lot of high school dances. As teenagers flocked to idolize the famous rock'n'roll singer, Elvis, parents began to fear this new change in their children. This different type of music was condemned on several fronts. Radio DJs were demanded to not allow any rock'n'roll to be played on air for the public to hear. As teenagers pleaded for a sense of uniqueness, their attempts were quickly shunned by older generations.
 * How The 1950's Youth Emerged**

__Expectations __ Many aspects in a teenager's life began to change in the 1950's. Living in America, parents of these children have already gone through several hardships. Most parents have experienced wars and the depression. This made them focus the what they care most about in life – their children. Parents started to reject the idea of allowing their children to join the armed forces and sending them to fight in a war. Therefore, expectations of teenagers changed as their parents focused on their futures. Teenagers were pushed to complete high school and encouraged to attend college. Teenagers focused on seeking a successful career that they would enjoy being apart of.

__ Family Values__ Juvenile delinquency during the 1950's was on the rise due to the cry of teenagers' need for individualism. Their peers were able to easily manipulate and influence other teens to believe that their parents' orders were of lesser importance than doing what they wanted. Teenagers rebellious and secretive behavior would be known as the “generation gap” between teens and their parents. Indeed, fear from the parents was understandable since they never experienced that type of lifestyle during their youth. Therefore, parents believed that their children were headed into eternal damnation. In addition, the media played on the befuddled emotions of parents and portrayed teens as juvenile delinquents to stir up more attention to the topic. The relationship between the teenager and the parents during the 1950's was difficult due to the different lifestyles they grew up in.

__Dating __ Teens dating during the 1950's became a very public and common activity to take part in. Thousands of teenagers would go on dates more than two times per week. By social standards, if a thirteen year old had not begun to date, she would be considered a “late bloomer”. This resulted in adults creating films to display the boundaries in dating and the severe consequences if teens were to violate them. The films depicted the possible results of sexual intercourse by presenting the actors receiving unwanted pregnancies or contracting a disease. On the innocent side, the films commonly showed the male and female ending the date with a friendly handshake. Adults included this in hopes that their children would follow the trend. Adults were aware that they could not force their teens to stop dating; however, they took steps to prevent dating from going too far.

__Punishments __ Rules and restrictions were set in place for teenagers as parents and local authorities noticed their change in lifestyle. Teens were getting expelled from school for minor rule infractions. Rock'n'roll music and the freedom to dance it was stripped from their abilities as well. Teenagers were punished if there was any type of hipster talk that would be offensive to the status quo. Talking about sex was not allowed, for it might have led to experimenting. Parents feared that their daughters might begin to idolize African American musicians and disrupt their current beliefs of other races. In addition, girls were prohibited to wear pants, while boys were not allowed to grow their hair past their ears. Parents believed that setting several restrictions would make teens realize that what their doing is wrong and they should go back to following the ways of their parents. 

**Primary Documents**



This photo displays a teenage dance during the 1950's. While these teens are simply enjoying their time together, adults during this time might have thought otherwise. This dance might have been one of the many that was later shut down due to teenage rebellion.

Juvenile Jungle, premiered in 1958, displayed teenagers as delinquents to focus in on the current times of the behavior of teens. The media portrayed teenagers to appear dangerous and defiant.

**Loss of Innocence Paragraph**

Throughout the 1950's, innocence was slowly being stripped away from teenagers living in America. Teens were being molded into a new society that older generations did not fully understand. The 1950's decade was unique in that there were multiple innovations being created and produced at once. The creation of rock'n'roll made teenagers flock to hear a new genre of music. Indeed,they were simply attempting to find something they could relate to. This change in music made parents panic and explain to their teens that they were participating in something that will lead them into eternal damnation. Simultaneously, teenagers were experiencing peer pressure that pushed them further into rebelling against their parents. This was the beginning of teenagers lacking innocence during the 1950's. Subsequently, the media began labeling most teens as juvenile delinquents. This made teenagers believe that they were apart of a reckless generation. However, continuing their actions made them lose innocence further in not caring about consequences and making decisions for themselves. As matters got worse, adults created detailed restrictions for teens. This kind of pressure made teenagers realize that they could not change the rules. This could have led to more rebellion from teens, due to the amount of helplessness. In addition, teenagers going out on dates needed to be informed about the risks of going too far. This contributed to their lack of innocence from seeing what sexual intercourse may result in. Lastly, teenagers of the 1950's were pushed to receive an education and think about their future career early in life. After their parents went through a world war and the depression, it was time for them to sculpt their children into successful pupils so they may have a better life. Teenagers in the 1950's progressively lost their innocence through seeing the risks of dating, their peers, being pushed to think about their future and rebellion.

**Works Cited**

Cox, Erika. "Teenage Life in the 1950's." loti. Copyright, 2009. Web. 10 Nov 2011. [].

Powers, Richard. "Teen Dances of the 1950s." stanford.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov 2011. [].

Powers, Richard. "The Life of a 1950s Teenager ." stanford.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Nov 2011 <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sombat, Windy. "Teenage Dating in the 1950s." urnd.edu. Copyright, 2000. Web. 10 Nov 2011. [].