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6
Vixens and Victims:
Porn and Horror 
“In an era where morals are undergoing a major upse, when acions whichused o be kep under wraps are brough ou ino he open, ‘Te Babysi-er’ is daring and curren as nex week’s news,” read he publiciy maerialor he ho new movie
Te Babysiter 
(1969).
1
Te sexually provocaivelm abou a liaison beween a babysiter and her middle-aged boss ea-ured Candy, who represened he “sexually acive girl”—a leas as adulmales in he 1960s imagined her. Exaggeraed anasies abou emale ado-lescen sexualiy in movies like his expressed new eroic possibiliies or American men excied by he sexual reedom o eenage girls. In numer-ous books and movies wih similar iles and hemes, sexy siters signieda version o eenage girlhood seemingly desirable o men and girls alike.In realiy, pornographic anasies abou girls like Candy gave men a legup on conrolling girls whose values were even now a odds wih heirown. Despie he ac ha girls coninued o be relaively unineresedin babysiting—especially when a male employer made advances—hey  were orced ino anasies in which hey simply could no wai o babysior Mr. ! Also projeced ono babysiters in men’s improbable ana-sies were ears ha heir dreams migh come rue. Babysiters like Candy  were cock eases and caalyss able o desroy men’s marriages and dimin-ish male auhoriy.
2
“Don’ le her in your house unless you wan real rou- ble,” expounded he iillaing movie railer ha warned men o seer clearo empresses like Candy or ace cerain ruin. She is a “devil and angelcombined.” As girls inuenced by he spread o eminism saked heir claims dur-ing he 1970s, however, he ormer objec o desire became he arge o punishing discipline. No only raspy-hroaed lunaics—ghoulish sand-ins or he powerless husband, weak aher, and incapable employer—bualso ineecive expers rebuked babysiters or behaving badly. Lewd so-ries abou sexy siters urned painully nighmarish in slasher movies in
 
140 Vixens and Victims: Porn and Horror
 which horric gures come orward o ame he empress in new culuralorms. Along wih educaors, expers, enerainers, and oher aduls whohad sough o reconcile he conic beween a vision o girlhood ha waseminine and one ha was eminis, a gallery o maniacs pressured eenagegirls o sop heir nonradiional sexual, social, and economic aciviies.Using aggressive conainmen sraegies, including inimidaion, submis-sion, and vicimizaion, maniacs communicaed aduls’ expecaions ogirls exercising heir independence.While eenage girls shaped by eminism and youh culure sill wouldno behave, boy babysiters—idealized as always as adolescens
 par excel-lence—
uncioned in a parallel eld ree rom horror and hormones.
Te Sexy Sitter Paying the Fied
Back in 1957,
 Lie
magazine had repored ha siters someimes acedhe problem o an “amorous aher or older broher.”
3
So did siters in heearly 1960s complain ha “husbands” who had “a litle oo much o drink”made hem eel ill a ease.
4
Someimes men wen urher han jus makingsuggesive commens. A 32-year-old aher o hree who pleaded “no con-es” o a sauory rape charge spen one year in he Marin Couny jail,according o he
San Francisco Examiner 
.
5
A ew years laer ha newspa-per would repor ha babysiters had grown ed up wih male employers who utered such worn-ou lines as, “Hi, kid, are you he baby siter? Say, you’re a knockou. Maybe I’ll have my wie ake he children ou and say home and le you si me.”
6
Tough mos girls el uneasy abou overly “riendly” male employers,a new rend in pornographic books, magazines, and movies depiced een-age siters as sirens.
7
Simulaing he anasies o men were cionalized babysiters wih suggesive names like Kity and Candy. Te appearance o he hypersexual eenage babysiter in pornographic works had been due ohe seady liberalizaion o sexual norms reshaping values and behaviors.Changing sandards o sexual moraliy inuenced he publicaion o bes-sellers like
Sex and he Single Girl
(1962) ha advocaed promiscuiy andlesser known paperbacks such as Vin Field’s
Te Baby-Siter 
(1964), a soporn work ha inauguraed he new public porrayal o babysiters as sex pos.
8
Te spicy cover o his novel eaured a well-endowed eenager who was even more carnal han her conemporary, he Barbie doll. Charna’s breass spilled ou rom her haler op, and her shor shors could barely conain her labia.
 
141
Mouning exciemen and anxiey abou he emergence o he “sexu-ally acive girl” inuenced by he sexual revoluion, youh culure, andeminism led o he appearance o he sexy siter in so porn cionand movies in he 1960s. Cover o 
Te Baby-Siter 
by Vin Fields.

Babysitters: Vixens & Victims in Porn & Horror

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