In fact, women did all sorts of things we think they didn’t do. In the middle ages, they were doctors and sheriffs.

Jero79 · 2013-05-29T09:11:30+00:00

Seriously fun read. Thank you for posting this.

alaysian · 2013-05-29T13:33:04+00:00

Yeah, I'm pretty tired of the whole "in the past women were nothing but property" trope. So somehow in the past when there was no internet or tv or radio gender roles stereotypes were stronger, culture was more homogenous and strict? And men in the past somehow didn't see their wives, mother's and daughters as human beings and didn't love them? Doubtful.

But look at the article - the the author goes and makes it still about "woe is woman, so oppressed all the timez".

The thing is that in the past the lives of everyday normal people generally weren't documented. Laws and such tended to be documented. Maybe the rich folks with lives of leisure wrote and who actually know how to read about everyday. That doesn't mean that's all there was.

It's like the Victorian ages - people imagine back then everyone is so prim and proper and drinking tea all the time. Meanwhile if you do actual research there were feral children roaming the streets and tattooed women getting hanged for stealing a loaf of bread.

chevalier_d_eon · 2013-05-29T11:25:56+00:00

Much like the fact that most black slaves were sold into slavery by other black people - this fact has been air-brushed out of existence as it doesn't fit the privilege picture.

kaolbrec · 2013-05-29T10:31:53+00:00

Good article but I fear it will be sadly lost on those who will continue to insist that women have always been oppressed and repressed for the benefit of the evil patriarchy.

firex726 · 2013-05-29T11:59:44+00:00

Wait... so women were not actually as they were depicted in 1950's Hollywood and bodice ripper novels?

dungone · 2013-05-29T13:13:45+00:00

Women themselves have played a key role in the revisionist history that erases dangerous roles women took part in throughout history. That's basically what the feminist Patriarchy theory does. That's what traditionalist women, with their women and children first mantra, also do. The irony is that in spite of all the talk about llamas, I don't think the author gets this. She gets as far as realizing that she herself has once argued that women should be kept out of combat, but she thinks it was her misogynism that made her believe that. Not her female privilege, not her misandry.

2013-05-29T19:04:15+00:00

Feminists have this strange belief that everything before 1969 = the 50s.

Really, the 50s were a very unique time. In no other time period was it truly uncommon for a lower or working class wife to work. It wasn't even unheard of for a middle-class merchant's wife to work with her husband. It was only uncommon for the upper and noble classes.

Feminists always seem to forget that until it comes time to brag about it.

Sarstan · 2013-05-29T17:22:36+00:00

The thing about this article (and the article it links for it's main source) is that it severely overplays the amount of women that "did anything". Still, the vast majority of women were domestic and I can imagine were quite happy with that than the alternatives.
I'm also particularly fond of the modern drawings of female figures in her article. Because we have some art that depicts women in armor that was made within the last couple of decade (don't forget the chest being clearly pushing out in the armor, which would be a severe detriment in an actual battlefield and deflect any blade up to the neck with no neck guard), then it must be that tons of women with conditioner in the hair and beautiful makeup filled the filthy, bloody, disease ridden battles of the times.

Yes, there were women who "did things" throughout history. Just don't take your facts from a fantasy writer, like the author of this article, who herself bases her whole argument on one single military group in Africa.

2013-05-29T14:41:34+00:00

I wanted to put this comment, but I don't know if it will get through:

@Angela:

"Wonderful plethora of ways" - like cutting peoples heads off during armed assaults? Sounds wonderful!

You cannot lump rape, murder, and abuse all together in the same category. Nor can you place them entirely at the feet of men. You should stop thinking of men as rapists and abusers, because it isn't a healthy perspective.

RE: Rape. I wont contend that the vast majority of rapists are men. I think I can go along with that, except to say that it isn't categorically only men that do it. Women do it in frightening numbers too.

But what I can say is that taken in a global context, men are overwhelming the victims of rape (prisons, warzones, poverty stricken countries) and that no-one makes a peep about it. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/17/the-rape-of-men)

Murder: It is true that men are the majority of perpetrators in murder cases. But the ones where women are the perpetrators, they are often painted to be victims of domestic violence (not often true) or to be depressed, or to have some other ailment that caused her to kill her husband, her kids, the neighbours, etc...

When a man does it, he is an evil killer psychopath. When you're brought up in an environment where you are constantly told that you're worthless, stupid, a potential rapist, naturally aggressive, have violent or anti-social tendencies, are put on drugs like Ritalin at alarming rates... it's no wonder that men bear the burdern of 90% of murders. We're conditioned from birth to act in those ways. This links in with what Jason said earlier; we have our stereotypes and agendas to battle with, often enough these come primarily from women in the family and society (white feather movement anyone?)

As to abuse; there have been many scientifically sound reports suggesting that domestic violence is a reciprocal act. Two people fighting, not just one person abusing another. You do get those cases, but the overwhelming majority of cases are where two people have an argument and it goes too far. Due to humanity's sexual dimorphism, women come off the worst in these altercations when they get to that point.

A report came out in Germany recently suggesting that in a lot of cases, women are the aggressors: http://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&eotf=1&u=http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/gesellschaft/degs-studie-auch-maenner-werden-in-beziehungen-opfer-von-gewalt-a-902153.html

I'm not suggesting that men are perfect and that all our stereotyping ills are the fault of women. We have to work together to solve these issues, not just throw them at the feet of men. Think about how disposable men have been considered throughout all of human existence - having to fight animals for food, having to protect the group at a huge risk to their own lives.. and for what?? The chance to mate??? Wow. What a brilliant deal we got!!

Lets take the common theory of "micro-aggressions" - women aren't the only ones who experience these. If Jungian psychology shows us anything, it is that small assumptions and archetypal expectations create entire sub-cultures. We have a sub-culture where the man is expendable, and where his input is nullified and he is made to feel like an animal. It's no wonder that some men then go on to act that way.

I am not expecting you to ignore reality. But I am expecting you to widen your horizons, and expand your perspective to include men as well as women in your worldview.

Super_delicious · 2013-05-29T16:24:02+00:00

Women only had these roles if the population was educated. If they were women could have jobs, be scholars and even get divorced. If they weren't women were property. The best example is Afghanistan. In the 1970s women were going to college and had a pretty good lives. Then the Taliban rolled in, the population became less educated and women became property.

oneiorosgrip · 2013-05-29T19:50:05+00:00

It took them 12 hours to even find this post.

Xspartantac0X · 2013-05-29T16:23:42+00:00

Lmao, MTG?

XisanXbeforeitsakiss · 2013-05-29T12:29:39+00:00

why is this in mens rights?

how is the factual justice of equality being abused here?

what concern of current social injustice is this writers piece?

why is this ghost chasing blog piece being brought to our attention?

Title	In fact, women did all sorts of things we think they didn’t do. In the middle ages, they were doctors and sheriffs.
Author	C0CKPUNCHER
Upvotes	120
Comments	66
Date	May 29, 2013 6:25 AM UTC (13 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1f96ar/in_fact_women_did_all_sorts_of_things_we_think/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/in-fact-women-did-all-sorts-of-things-we-think.1172646 https://theredarchive.com/post/1172646

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