JUST PASS ME A CHIKO ROLL
Nostalgia is that weird emotion which makes things seem a million times better than they are now.
In times of recession, people tend to hanker for the past. When Channel 10 announced its intention of screening an eight-hour adaptation of Puberty Blues, two reactions occurred to me simultaneously. 1) Ohmygod. I’m so old I’m now considered archival. 2) As they have to cast so many young, gorgeous males in budgie smugglers, do I get to drive around town with a casting couch strapped to my roof racks and test their life saving skills? (Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation seems the only way a woman will ever get to hear heavy breathing again.)
Photograph via Channel Ten.
But the 70s was not all beer, well, brandavino and skittles.
It was a decade of social upheaval. A newly elected Gough Whitlam was dragging us out of the beige 50s mentality of Menzies conservatism. Cleo scandalised the Aussie male population by publishing nude male centerfolds. Germaine Greer was compelling women to no longer allow men to walk over us, ensuring that our talents lay not just dormant and doormat.
Yet despite these seismic shifts, in the Australian suburbs sexism and racism remained rife.
The men I grew up with disproved the theory of evolution – they were evolving into apes. Yes, they had serious pecs appeal but they were emotional bonsai – you had to whack the fertiliser to get any feelings out of them.
They also thought ‘sex drive’ meant doing it in the car – possibly because of that little sign in the rear vision mirror which said “Objects in this mirror, may appear larger than they are.”
Women were little more than a life support system to a pair of breasts.
We weren’t allowed to surf. We just lay on beach in teeny weeny bikinis, nervously glancing downwards in case our G-strings had slipped. (Believe me, it gave “bad hair day” a whole new meaning.) We folded the towel, fetched the Chiko rolls and were then devoured sexually, whenever the boys felt hungry.
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21 Responses to this article
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The Huntress August 17, 2012
Ah, how I love Kathy Lette. Many an hours entertainment I have had at her hands
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kathy lette September 30, 2012
Thank you , you are obviously a woman of great taste and discernment!! cheers, kathy
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Judith Ridge August 17, 2012
I wrote my own reminiscence of Puberty Blues at my blog. It’s one of the most important books in the canon of Australian young adult literature, and it was deeply important to me on a personal level as well.
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kathy lette September 30, 2012
hi. I’m so glad the book is being reinvented for a younger audience. I sometimes think young women have all the benefits of feminism, but none of the battle scars. This will remind them of how far we’ve come. cheers, Kathy
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FerrelBerryl August 17, 2012
That was pun-tastic. Never change Kathy Lette. You’re awesome.
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kathy lette September 30, 2012
Thanks possum. All I can say is “Ditto!” cheers, kathy x
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Me August 17, 2012
Don’t forget the other co-author of Puberty Blues, Gabrielle Carey…
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Jo August 18, 2012
Kathy Lette you are a treasure (and long before archival days don’t worry!) I missed the first episode but will catch up online – only hope the tv series can come close to doing justice to the book.
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kathy lette September 30, 2012
Hello, sorry it’s taken me so long to reply to your lovely message. My life in London is so deranged. But I’m thrilled that Pubes is so good. Subtle story lines and nuanced acting. They’ve done me proud! x
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Benison O'Reilly August 19, 2012
Haven’t yet watched the first episode of PB but I will, as I’ve heard it’s a cracker; however, what Kathy writes reminds me of when I went to see the STC’s revival of ‘Don’s Party’ in 2007. The sexism was appalling, especially when Don generously offers his mate his wife to sleep with, as if she was just goods and chattel. So much for the enlightened attitudes of the late 60s-early 70s. We’ve come a surprisingly long way, without even realising it.
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kathy lette September 30, 2012
Well said. But have we come so far when you consider the comments by Alan Jones re women “destroying the joint” etc? He proves that dinosaurs still roam the earth. x
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Lynda August 19, 2012
Loved the first episode of PB, the nostalgia is wonderful and the decor even better. Brilliant cast too. I grew up in the western suburbs and the culture was the same. My only regret of that time is not being more supportive of the girls who were seen as ‘sluts’ by the boys. These girls were outcasts of double standards.
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kathy lette September 30, 2012
Well said. xx cheers, Kathy
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Kate S August 19, 2012
I never read Puberty Blues but knew about it. In the 70′s I was a young, gay woman struggling with MS. It was all about learning to navigate an antagonistic culture but part of that resonated with the rebellious spirit that I was.
It was a time of the great social movements in the Western world and translating to Australia: the development of community managed NGO’s, moving away from instittutional services; gay liberation was stepping up to the mark; women’s liberation also (remember 1975?); the end of the Vietnam war and the waves of boat refugees coming from Vietnam. The Labor victory in 1972 and the huge social changes that resulted. Remember the Supporting Parent’s Benefit in 1974 and Medibank in 1975?
I don’t think that nostalgia is a negative thing at all. It’s just acknowledging mileposts in our lives and reminding ourselves that we, too, contributed to all that
Kathy Lette, I won’t watch the new Puberty Blues (no time) but I do want to acknowledge that every generation needs people like you to document our history and help us to remember it with respect as a starting place for each iof us
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kathy lette September 30, 2012
thanks hon. I only write as it’s cheaper than therapy! x
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Marina August 20, 2012
Loved the first episode – like Offspring – another fabulous Aussie series
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kathy lette September 30, 2012
So true. I think it’s also made by Southern Star. x
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