The Food and Drug Administration approved the first oral contraceptive widely known as “the pill” for the first time in 1960, after previously approving it for usage in menstrual disorders. Although it was approved in 1960, the pill was not legal for married women until 1965 and for unmarried women in 1972. This followed the baby boom which notably comprised a large amount of the population. After the approval of the pill, birth rates in the U.S. began to decrease drastically (Bailey). This gave women more control and autonomy over their bodies, as abortion was not federally legal yet. Bill Baird (pictured right) was arrested several times for distributing birth control to unmarried women, which prompted the court case Eisenstadt v. Baird which made birth control available to unmarried women. The woman depicted in the painting is in control. She is illuminated by the sun to be the focal point of the painting. While the painting is somewhat voyeuristic in nature, the woman has the control. She is standing there tall and proud of her actions. Hopper was far more conservative than his wife Josephine. Their relationship was tumultuous because she was more liberal and he was more conservative. She gave up her painting career for him. The loneliness she shows in the painting is likened to the experience of women who didn’t have the option of the pill before. This directly correlates with second wave feminism. In the 1950’s and 60’s the second wave of feminism was just starting and women were entering the previously male dominated workplace. Women were beginning to wear workplace attire, including heeled pumps. Women were beginning to develop a certain style that pertained to this workwear era. This woman in this painting has a pair of workplace heels under her bed. She is young, so it is likely that she would have been working this sort of office job. The bareness of the scene highlights these pumps and the woman separately. It asks: why would this woman have these heels?

“Bill Baird.” Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, https://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/schlesinger-library/collections/bill-b.... Accessed 2 April 2023.