CHEW THIS
People have been chewing gum since prehistoric times: Scandinavian cave-folks chewed birch bark tar, Native Americans chewed pine resin, the Aztecs chomped chicle tree sap – and it’s never been considered ladylike.
The Aztecs, for example, considered public gum-chewing to be for women of ill-repute and effeminate men. (There may be a bit of translation issue there, but the point is made!)
Modern gum took off in the 19th century, first when John Curtis of Maine started making it with paraffin and spruce sap…and later. when American inventor Thomas Adams Sr got a bunch of chicle from an exiled Mexican president and turned it into a business. By the 1880s, Adams and his rival William Wrigley had every American chomping through some 100 sticks a year!
And don’t forget bubble gum – Fleer started selling Dubble-Bubble in 1928.
So gum was everywhere.
Which didn’t mean it was considered nice.
Even though everyone chewed gum, most people weren’t supposed to be seen doing it.
Just about everyone who went to school can remember a teacher glaring at them and ordering them to get rid of their gum. Some older folks can probably remember being told to swallow it...and worrying that it would stay in their intestine and clog up the works.
Just an urban legend -- really!
If gum was bad form for schoolkids, it was much more so for women.
Sure, it wasn’t quite smoking-level misbehavior, but chewing was definitely not part of the debutante package.
Advice books remind ladies not to chew in public, usually with some comment about how it looks unladylike.
If the advice books didn’t get the point across, the pop culture portrayals would do it.
While elegant movie stars like Claudette Colbert appeared in gum ads – smiling serenely over a picture of Doublemint -- the women who were actually seen chewing it were a good bit less spiffy. By the 1950s, open and enthusiastic gum-chewing had become the signature of the bimbo and the bad girl.
Marilyn Monroe herself wasn’t above taking a chomp as a gleeful sex bomb, and neither were any number of lesser lights on the big and small screens. A juicy wad of gum allowed for all kinds of business, and the working jaw created a certain look.
It’s fair to say Princess Grace or Jacqueline Kennedy were never caught chewing on camera.
Never mind the Queen. It’s entirely possible that Her Late Majesty had a pack in her expansive purse…but we never saw her using it.
Even now, it’s not exactly a refined vice.
No one’s going to argue that ladies look cool popping a big pink bubble – though there are still folks who think that there’s something deeply cool about smoking, no matter how dangerous. On the other hand, you don’t have to go downstairs and ten feet away from the door to enjoy a little sugar-free wintermint!
Ladylike it may not be, but it turns out that the gum chewers – myself included – have a point. Researchers say chewing gum lowers stress, increases concentration and even boosts memory.
Makes sense to me – I can’t write a newscast, never mind fiction, without something to chew on, and I’m not the only writer I know with the habit.
And no, I’m not going to tell you how much it took to finish this post…though I WILL tell you that it’s Trident Spearmint!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
The Aztecs, for example, considered public gum-chewing to be for women of ill-repute and effeminate men. (There may be a bit of translation issue there, but the point is made!)
Modern gum took off in the 19th century, first when John Curtis of Maine started making it with paraffin and spruce sap…and later. when American inventor Thomas Adams Sr got a bunch of chicle from an exiled Mexican president and turned it into a business. By the 1880s, Adams and his rival William Wrigley had every American chomping through some 100 sticks a year!
And don’t forget bubble gum – Fleer started selling Dubble-Bubble in 1928.
So gum was everywhere.
Which didn’t mean it was considered nice.
Even though everyone chewed gum, most people weren’t supposed to be seen doing it.
Just about everyone who went to school can remember a teacher glaring at them and ordering them to get rid of their gum. Some older folks can probably remember being told to swallow it...and worrying that it would stay in their intestine and clog up the works.
Just an urban legend -- really!
If gum was bad form for schoolkids, it was much more so for women.
Sure, it wasn’t quite smoking-level misbehavior, but chewing was definitely not part of the debutante package.
Advice books remind ladies not to chew in public, usually with some comment about how it looks unladylike.
If the advice books didn’t get the point across, the pop culture portrayals would do it.
While elegant movie stars like Claudette Colbert appeared in gum ads – smiling serenely over a picture of Doublemint -- the women who were actually seen chewing it were a good bit less spiffy. By the 1950s, open and enthusiastic gum-chewing had become the signature of the bimbo and the bad girl.
Marilyn Monroe herself wasn’t above taking a chomp as a gleeful sex bomb, and neither were any number of lesser lights on the big and small screens. A juicy wad of gum allowed for all kinds of business, and the working jaw created a certain look.
It’s fair to say Princess Grace or Jacqueline Kennedy were never caught chewing on camera.
Never mind the Queen. It’s entirely possible that Her Late Majesty had a pack in her expansive purse…but we never saw her using it.
Even now, it’s not exactly a refined vice.
No one’s going to argue that ladies look cool popping a big pink bubble – though there are still folks who think that there’s something deeply cool about smoking, no matter how dangerous. On the other hand, you don’t have to go downstairs and ten feet away from the door to enjoy a little sugar-free wintermint!
Ladylike it may not be, but it turns out that the gum chewers – myself included – have a point. Researchers say chewing gum lowers stress, increases concentration and even boosts memory.
Makes sense to me – I can’t write a newscast, never mind fiction, without something to chew on, and I’m not the only writer I know with the habit.
And no, I’m not going to tell you how much it took to finish this post…though I WILL tell you that it’s Trident Spearmint!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
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