The Rules

<p>In 1995 a bestselling book proposed a simple dating strategy for women: Lose weight, wear bright colors and become a completely different person for the rest of your life.<br/><br/>Thanks to <a href='https://moiradonegan.substack.com/'>Moira Donegan</a> for helping us with this episode! <br/><br/><a href='https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod'><b>Support us on Patreon</b></a><b>: <br/></b><a href='https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod'><b>https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod</b></a></p><p><b>Where to find us: </b></p><ul><li><a href='https://twitter.com/IfBooksPod'>Twitter</a></li><li><a href='https://www.fivefourpod.com/'>Peter&apos;s other podcast, 5-4</a></li><li><a href='https://www.maintenancephase.com/'>Mike&apos;s other podcast, Maintenance Phase</a></li></ul><p><b>Sources:</b></p><ul><li><a href='https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/1626/front-porch-back-seat'>From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America</a> </li><li><a href='https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/style/the-rules-book.html'>Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s essay, “Stuff Your ‘Rules’”</a> </li><li><a href='https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00497878.2000.9979317?journalCode=gwst20'>The More Things Change: <em>The Rules</em> And Late Eighteenth‐Century Conduct Books For Women</a> </li><li><a href='https://www.jstor.org/stable/3789817'>Shrinking Violets and Caspar Milquetoasts: Shyness and Heterosexuality from the Roles of the Fifties to &quot;The Rules&quot; of the Nineties</a> </li><li><a href='https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12119-020-09743-3'>From Mountain Peak to Total Woman: An Evolutionary History of Pre-feminist Dating Advice</a> </li><li><a href='https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520298699/the-mating-game#:~:text=Through%20interviews%20with%20heterosexual%20and,with%20competing%20messages%20about%20gender%2C'>The Mating Game: How Gender Still Shapes How We Date by Ellen Lamont</a> </li><li><a href='https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/23/garden/so-many-rules-so-little-time.html'>So Many Rules, So Little Time</a