Women were treated better in most respects before 3rd wave feminism

Feminism has sold us the idea that prior to about 1970, women cowered under their dining room tables waiting for their husbands to throw then some scraps. It's incredible how many people believe such non-sense. I have not seen any evidence for that. Ironically the red pill movement seeks to "bring back" such conditions, conditions that probably never existed and surely did not exist in the US in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

Just watch movies and TV shows from that era to see how women were treated. Granted movies don't necessarily depict real life but they must at least depict social norms (even if those norms are not always followed) otherwise people from that era would not be able to relate to them. Consider Leave it to Beaver. It depicts the ideal of the family. Surely no family has ever lived that way but it's instructive to see a people's ideal. The boys always get in some kind of trouble , June and Ward always discuss the issue to make sure that they are on the same page. Ward carefully and respectfully listens to June's input and then makes a decision on how to move forward that serves everyone's best interests. He then does the hard work of skillfully talking to and disciplining the boys. It's the perfect vision of male leadership in the family and you never get the sense that June is oppressed. Instead he takes the weight of her shoulders and solves problems that she wants solved. He even helps her with the dishes after dinner after working all day and making and managing all the money and doing all the masculine chores around the house.

Movies from the era often have protagonists that are less than ideal humans. However you virtually never see women disrespected and if they are then the man who does this is cast as a villan who is punished by other men. The sense you get from classic Hollywood is that women were respected much more than they are today. Men take of their hats to them and often stand up when they enter the room. There is one episode of Alferd Hitchcock presents where an escaped convict chooses to take a female hostage instead of a male one because "the police won't shoot at the car if there is a woman in it." And then of course we have the example of the Titanic where the most powerful men in the world went down with the ship so that thier maids could live. Finally there are a few instances in movies of women taking on male roles at work as reporters (His Girl Friday) or high level managers (Miracle on 34th Street) and being respected in those roles as well.

Surveys show women were happier than men back then, now its the reverse. And I have not seen any evidence that domestic violence or sexual assault/harassment rates were higher then. Of course activists say that they were just not reported. But domestic abuse often lead to the murder of the wife by the husband, and women were not murdered at higher rates in the 50s than they are today.

Finally the sexual revolution just forced female sexuality to conform to male sexuality where as before it was the other way around.

So it seems like there was a lot inequality in the first half of the century that benefitted women and it is conceivable that women were better off then and many of the red pill bros intent on objectifying women would not have been happy to live in that era.

Discuss

Edit: I meant second wave feminism not third wave (can't edit title)

This post about America. If you are living in another country, especially a non-Western one, this post does not apply to you.

Feminists rarely have any evidence to support their claims so today people love to cite the experience of their mothers or grandmother's that was so bad. This is all anecdotal. I used to work with elderly people who are mostly women and they LOVE to talk about their lives nonstop but they never talked about being oppressed. And if you told them the things men say to you on dating sites they would probably faint. There is always someone else anecdotal evidence to cancel out the one you got.

Also citing some horrific experience your family member had in the 50s does not imply that it was any more common or accepted then than it is today.