Beaver and girls?

[Mrs. Ducky]

I'm not sure how it was back then, but does anyone else feel that it was odd that Beaver thought girls were creepy until about 6th grade?

[junecleaver]

i thought it was! i always had many male and female friends....even when i was in elementary school! i guess that's how it was then..

[howilu]

I felt it was rather creepy that Beaver hated girls, even when he was reaching his teens. Every time he made a negative comment about girls, I would shout at the TV BEAVER HATES GIRLS! BEAVER HATES GIRLS.

[Mijada]

That kind of got on my nerves the way he hated girls but the girls in his class felt the same way about the boys. It was pretty much the same way when I was in Elementary school too. It was normal for girls to play with girls and boys with boys. Me being a tomboy, I played with a lot of boys and got teased endlessly because of it. I remember in 5th and sixth grade some of the boys and girls would start "going together" It was all innocent fun. I really liked the ep where Beaver and Linda Dennison find the birds nest up in the tree. In that ep Beaver finds out that girls aren't so bad after all.

[Tweety]

Originally posted by Mijada
... I really liked the ep where Beaver and Linda Dennison find the birds nest up in the tree. In that ep Beaver finds out that girls aren't so bad after all.


Took him long enough... :)

Actually, Beaver probably did like girls, but would never admit it to his family or friends...he was probably afraid of getting "the business", just like he gave Wally "the business" every time Wally liked a girl...

Beaver admitted to Wally that he was jealous when Larry was sitting in his and Linda's tree...

Beaver was always getting teased by Whitey or Gilbert whenever they thought he liked a girl...

It was strange in the later seasons though, when Beaver would (at least pretend to) not like girls...watching some of those shows, I'm yelling at the TV saying, "Hey Beav, you're like 13 years old now, it's OK IF YOU LIKE A GUUUUURRRRL!!!"

And of course, when he DID fall for a girl, he fell for her in a big way, giving her a locket that was worth about $20...he won it at a carnival...

But as other posts have pointed out, when I was in Elementary school, boys usually hung out with boys, and girls with girls..but there were always a couple of girls in class that all the guys liked (and I'm sure it was the other way around with the girls), and that was normal...it was OK to like a girl at that age, you just had be careful who you told so you wouldn't get the business!! ;)

[1954Boomer]

Regarding this topic, I do think it was a generational thing. I remember that in elementary school (early to mid 60s) that the boys always hung out with the boys. Outside of school, socialization was just an extension of the playground: the guys just hung around with other guys. Not that we didn't NOTICE girls. It's just that we didn't hang around them much. By junior high, however, it was a different story.

It seemed that the writers---perhaps in the effort to keep Beaver and the series going a bit longer---really exaggerated his dislike for girls. It really wasn't until the final season of the show---when Beaver, Gilbert and Whitey were in 8th grade---did Beaver start showing any interest in the opposite sex.

[evermore]

WHITEY ENDED UP WITH ALL OF BEAVER'S FICKLED GIRL FRIENDS. LET'S SAY HE WON THEM ALL ON DEFAULT. HE WAS A REAL LADIES MAN.:ladiesman

[Eddie Haskell]

The title of this thread threw me for a loop. :nonono:

I'll say no more..... :D

[The Modfather]

I agree. But I'm sure Jerry didn't really think girls were 'icky'.

[Bugiddle]

"Mess with girls, and girls will mess you up!"
(TVLand "Beaver" promo)

I never thought it was strange that Beaver hated girls in elementary school, considering the creepy girls that were in his class like Judy and Penny!

It was just the era back then - kids that age usually played with the same sex. The sex roles were narrowly defined and there were no co-ed sports teams, so boys and girls did not "mix" as much as they do today. Plus, it was a very innocent era, and I don't think boys and girls developed socially and physically as early as they do these days. The TV shows and movies that kids watched did not contain any sexual references, (no explicit music and music videos either), so kids did not feel compelled to grow up so fast.