Were things in the past really that bad for women? (drug, grandfather)
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Dont even get me going. I was the only woman in my police academy class, in NM, in 1973. You wouldn't believe what I put up with. Back then, the harassment and such I got as the 2nd woman police officer on our force - phew. But.... in those days, we weren't wimps and didn't go crying to personnel. We took care of things ourselves. I recall, one officer who kept harassing me with obscene comments. Finally, after about a year of that, I grabbed him by his throat one day, lifted him up, slammed him up against the wall a few times, yelling "stop bothering me!" The other officers stood nearby, laughing their butts off. That officer got the message, and from that day forth, we became friends.
Good for you. That may have worked then (and may have been the only thing that would have worked) however, don't call women wimps now. It is very possible that if you did that to a guy now you'd be reported for assault and be in huge trouble...and "all" he'd done was insult you - no physical contact. Yup, you could be in jail and he'd be still laughing.
Women couldn't work and couldn't control their financial lives.
No birth control available and had to produce possibly unwanted children.
Men had the legal right to rape their wives.
Women were expected to be seen and not heard.
Women are still seen as biologically inferior to men.
Women didn't have the right to vote.
The male dominated medical field didn't believe menstrual cramps were real and didn't understand most "female" problems. They thought women were crazy when they complained.
It was acceptable for a man to keep his woman in line by beating her.
The history of women and rape is appalling. Google Recy Taylor.
Women couldn't have their own bank accounts or buy real estate without a man.
Need more?
Women couldn't work? Says who? I was born in 51 and my GRANDMOTHER was a nurse.
I had my own bank account even when I was a kid.
Women got the right to vote in 1919.
No birth control? How about condoms? Rubber: 1855; Latex: 1920s; Polyurethane: 1994; Polyisoprene: 2008.
You did miss one. If men had to get their penis crushed once a year to find out if they have cancer, you can best believe something better than the mammogram would have been invented by now. But why aren't women doing the inventing?
Women couldn't work? Says who? I was born in 51 and my GRANDMOTHER was a nurse.
I had my own bank account even when I was a kid.
Women got the right to vote in 1919.
No birth control? How about condoms? Rubber: 1855; Latex: 1920s; Polyurethane: 1994; Polyisoprene: 2008.
You did miss one. If men had to get their penis crushed once a year to find out if they have cancer, you can best believe something better than the mammogram would have been invented by now. But why aren't women doing the inventing?
Only going to comment on the condoms. They still did not put control over a woman's body in HER hands, as their effectiveness was 100% dependent on the man to wear. If you didn't want another baby but your husband did, guess what, you were having another baby. The breakthrough of the pill was that for the first time, it gave women a truly effective birth control method that she alone had control over. That led to greater control to create the life she wanted and not the one imposed upon her.
I will say, it's fine to say "my experience was different than yours or the women in your lives and here's how" but your post seems to imply your experience negates all of our personal experiences and makes them untrue. It doesn't.
Only going to comment on the condoms. They still did not put control over a woman's body in HER hands, as their effectiveness was 100% dependent on the man to wear. If you didn't want another baby but your husband did, guess what, you were having another baby. The breakthrough of the pill was that for the first time, it gave women a truly effective birth control method that she alone had control over. That led to greater control to create the life she wanted and not the one imposed upon her.
I will say, it's fine to say "my experience was different than yours or the women in your lives and here's how" but your post seems to imply your experience negates all of our personal experiences and makes them untrue. It doesn't.
I never thought of myself as a victim so I wasn't or thought of women as some minority group (since they are almost half the population) in need of assistance. You have choices in life and that includes women.
I never thought of myself as a victim so I wasn't or thought of women as some minority group (since they are almost half the population) in need of assistance. You have choices in life and that includes women.
Women had limited choices. Could a woman in 1955 decide numbers were her thing and she aspired to be a managing director at a top accounting firm? Could she decide she loved being strategic and wanted to be a leader in the US military (and not a WAC)?
It's not about being a victim. It's about dealing with systemic obstacles.
The main point of feminism was to teach women that wanting to be a wife and a mother who does not work outside the home FOR MONEY is indeed an idiot.
Yes. Absolutely. I was all for putting my babies in daycare and going back to work. Then the babies were born...
And hell no was going to let some other b*@tch raise my kids. I just couldn't do it. Maternal instinct kicked me in the pants. But oh lordy did I get hell for it from other women. One even screamed at me that all I do was "nothing." I shouldn't have gone to college and wasted money if that is all I was going to do. I guess your husband tells you what to do. What are you going to do WHEN he leaves you? I could never JUST stay home.....etc. etc.
I was in jr high when we had cooking one semester and sewing the other. We had more students than sewing machines. Mom had already taught me how to sew. I just brought the material home on a Friday and brought an almost complete ourfit with more than it started with on Monday. And I didn't use a pattern. The teacher was impressed.
They didn't have enough stove space for the cooking part either. They kept to simple things, but Mom hadn't taught me much about cooking unless it was boiling something. But I got interested and started experimenting. I did enjoy the cooking part, but mostly tried it at home. I got the recipe for my favorite cassarole in that class.
I didn't learn to type until college when I had to, and took their typing class. I'm still astonished at how easy it is to type out a few pages and depend on my fingers knowing where its supposed to go. This came out handy when I took a programming class, and later when I worked as a programmer. Just don't ask me what finger goes with what key since I have no idea, and only the fingers know.
We were just on the cusp, with women looking for more than being wives, with the mid sixties redefining a lot of things. Mom was all in favor of it. She had had a carrear waiting for her until she married Dad, and became the navy wife. She still wondered what if to me when I was just starting.
I wonder how many mothers encouraged daughters to look towards more than marriage and plans they never got to finish. I think my Dad would have been okay if I'd married someone early and lived off their income. But he worked in electronics and the development of new gismos, and he WAS proud of me. What compromized my plans was getting sick with a systemic immune disease, and not being able to do what I wanted. I still wonder. I think I could have done very well. Maybe my name would be on some process. But an auto immune disease which was caused by local contamination took that away.
One thing I have learned is that when you lose something, look around and find what you gained. I'd have never been able to get deeply into writing with the crush from that job. And I've come to accept that you always get something back, even if its just something which opens a new door.
I never thought of myself as a victim so I wasn't or thought of women as some minority group (since they are almost half the population) in need of assistance. You have choices in life and that includes women.
Magical thinking doesn't make institutionalized discrimination disappear.
Magical thinking doesn't make institutionalized discrimination disappear.
so true....we also try to forget all those bad things......but some are too hard to forget
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