Nice Girls Don't Ask

Directed by Jan Krawitz

In the 1950s, thousands of “social guidance” films were shown to shape behavior according to traditional gender norms. “Nice Girls Don’t Ask” excavates footage from vintage educational films to cast a subversive but humorous lens on the proffered rules and expectations. What was the cost of this behavioral straitjacket for a generation of women? Is the pendulum creeping back?