I think a lot of Stranger Things fans are way too young to remember the absolute societal censure and outrage in the US over "latchkey kids". As it became less and less possible for a single income to support a family, and for that matter, as more women were ABLE to pursue careers outside the home, the moral outcry of the age was about all those poor children coming home to empty houses. They might die! They might eat too many cookies! They might get into Unspecified Trouble! MY GOD, MARTHA, THEY MIGHT SMOKE OR MASTURBATE. You just couldn't be sure!
Which is why I gloss over it, but also giggle a little when I read stories about Steve Harrington's parents leaving him for weeks at a time when he was ten. Like, I'm sure it could have happened. But I'm also sure every gossip in town would have known about it and shamed his mother six ways to Sunday. (Don’t worry, his dad wouldn’t have been at fault.) She would have been a fucking pariah, no matter how rich. (And from the show, my guess is they were upper middle class- so "fuck them" rich, not "fuck you" rich.)
Which is not to say I give that much of a crap in fic. Just that it amuses me. These are the perils of your childhood being mined for nostalgia. People can research the Walkmans and the neon, but the deeply ingrained sexism (and bigotry!) disguised as moral panic about the safety of The Children doesn't tend to get the same refresh.
Oh no. Wait. It does. They just find new scapegoats.
