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?
17 minutes | 2025
Director’s Statement
My mother was a math major in college. She married in the 1950s, conformed to societal expectations and became a housewife and mother. I came of age in the 1960s – a time when women enjoyed more freedom. In today’s political climate there is a resurgence of “trad wives.” Is the pendulum swinging back? Nice Girls Don’t Ask is an essay film in which I speak through the editorial repurposing of instructional films from the 50s.
Credits
Producer, Director, Editor – Jan Krawitz
Archival Producer – Ellie Wen
Graphics – Peter Berger
Colorist – Robert Arnold
Sound Mix – Dan Olmsted
Archival Footage – Internet Archive in association with Prelinger Archives
Funding:
Clayman Institute for Gender Research
Bogliasco Foundation
Pauline Brown Fund for American Art, Stanford University
Contact
Jan Krawitz is available for speaking engagements with her films at conferences and universities. She also conducts master classes and presents public talks about documentary film as a Visiting Filmmaker.