A Stitch in Haste

This is hilarious:

1943 Guide to Hiring Women
Excerpt:

3. General experience indicates that "husky" girls — those who are just a little on the heavy side — are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
...
8. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.

This, meanwhile, is not so hilarious:

Attacks Show Easygoing Jamaica Is Dire Place for Gays
Excerpt:

Disapproval of gays is an entrenched part of island life, rooted, Jamaicans say, in the country's Christian tradition. The Bible condemns homosexuality, they say. But critics say islanders are selective in the verses they cite, and the rage at gay sex contrasts sharply with Jamaicans' embrace of casual sex among heterosexuals, which is considered part of the Caribbean way.
...
The country's public defender, Earl Witter, later condemned the violence at the funeral, but he also reinforced the common view that if only gays would be less flamboyant, there would be less violence against them. Speaking to the Mandeville Rotary Club last April, he urged Jamaica's gays to avoid flaunting their sexual orientation. "Hold your corners," he said in the local vernacular, because "it may provoke a violent breach of the peace."

And if Lawrence King has simply abstained from "flaunting himself" at school, he would never have forced a fellow student to blow his brains out.

Down the road, we will of course mock anti-gay bigotry the same way we can mock this silly 1943 guide to employing "girls."

The only questions are how long the road is, and how many bodies will be strewn alongside it.