You've Come A Long Way Baby

 

 Yesterday, while searching for something else, I found this new, old, deck of playing cards. New because they had never been opened. Old because they were a promotional item for The Phillip Morris Company's Virginia Slims cigarettes.

  

I assumed the cards were some that I had gotten sometime in 1969 or 1970 when I briefly smoked Virginia Slims Ultra Lights Menthols. Phillip Morris had introduced them in 1968 in the midst of the Women's Liberation Movement.  But the cards didn't come out until 1985.

I considered myself a feminist, or women's libber, and I definitely championed equal rights, so I jumped right on the bandwagon and changed to the cigarette brand that seemed to champion 'our' cause. 

It wasn't long before I went back to my Salem cigarettes though because the longer Virginia Slims did not fit in my fancy cigarette case. 

I may not have gotten the playing cards as a promotional item, but I'm pretty sure I did get this packet of needles and needle threader.

At least I remember having one like this.

So I opened that old new deck of cards and discovered that the face cards were all depictions of women. Except for the Joker. Obviously the Joker was a man. 😏

The 'King' and Queen of Hearts are my favorite poses along with the Jack of Spades. She looks like she could cause some serious harm with that battle axe.

I quit smoking for good in January, 1973 - I've come a long way baby.  😌