Okay it's more of a rant than anything, but the reason I wanted to post this here is because women make up blatantly false narratives of women's oppression and use it to justify ridiculous theories.

So I saw this comment on a subreddit I was browsing:

Don’t forget that they need to be declared ritualistically and religiously unclean because of a wet dream—something that they have no control over. Seven days in the hut for you. And taken out of school regularly because of it but expected to pass. And dressing modestly includes a full sheet around their bodies from head to foot. Not to mention that all clothing must be decorative, include stays and girdles and corsets (because that is what is marketed to their masters as sexy) and high heels and have no pockets and fall apart regularly. Then they are shamed publicly for not knowing anything and left alone for hours on end in their stays and corsets and expected to keep it spotless or they will be publicly shamed and deserted (that was usually a newspaper notice in historic times) and unable to then find a partner to feed them. At no times should they be allowed to own property or a bank account. Every major religion should shame them with large posters about how everything is their fault and they are used in almost every parable and example as a horrible and evil example of a person that is illustrative of villainy and adultery.

Ok, let's break that down. In historic times, yes, women were seen as unclean for having periods, but guess what? Men were seen as unclean for having bodily discharges too! If you read Leviticus 15 of the bible, it actually goes into more detail about what men are supposed to do if they have a discharge. These texts are not necessarily saying women are bad or evil, just that bodily fluids in general are 'unclean' you can find explanations here: https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/leviticus-15/

It goes without saying that throughout history, most children did not go to school, unfortunately many children were either forced to work, or went to a very brutal version of 'school' such as the Spartan Agoge. By the time girls and boys were going to school regularly, period hygiene had much improved.

Then they go on to say that women were covered head to foot. This is completely false. In the vast majority of cultures, women could be asked to cover their hair and body, but even that eroded over time. Infact, as an exmuslim islam doesn't even say that women have to cover their face. Only crazy extremists like the Taliban want that.

They say that women have to wear things like high heels and corsets, as if it's not women's choice that we wear those things. Corsets were viewed as good and comfortable, even men wore them! And high heels too. I honestly dont mind wear high heels, I think they are pretty, but no one is forcing me to.

She talks about how women are shamed publicly for not knowing anything. I dont know what she means here, and then saying that women were left alone for hours indoors. To that I say, here is a receipt of a man watching an execution in 1788:

"Here I turned my eyes from this frightful spectacle, and beheld the whole place covered with a multitude of people, with their faces all turned to the scaffold: and strange as it may appear, the greater number were women. It is amazing, how the more delicate part of the creation, whose feelings are so exquisitely tender and refined, should come in crouds to see so bloody a spectacle: Yet without doubt, it is the pity, the kind compassion which they feel, that makes them so anxious about the tortures inflicted on our fellow creatures." https://www.geriwalton.com/being-broken-on-the-wheel-in-the-18th-century/

Here we see that not only did women go out, you could even see more women out than men. Women could also spend time with their children, visit their female friends, go to 'therapists', go to soothsayers, attend plays, go to restaurants etc. And if they were homemakers, they would do all these on their husbands' dime.

Next she says that if women didn't clean the house to perfection they would be deserted. This is completely untrue. In the US and UK, divorce was hard to get and men had to provide for their wives, even if they were disabled, poor, mentally ill, etc. If they didn't, they went to jail. There were even letters of men begging their wives to let them out of jail, even just for the holidays. In islam, men are told to provide a househelp if their wives dont want to cook or clean.

Next she says that women weren't allowed to own property. This is completely false. Unmarried women in the UK and US could own property, start a business, enter into contracts, earn their own wages. Married women, however, could own property, but under their husbands name (even this changed in the late 1800s) and this is because the husband was legally obligated to go to prison if he didn't provide for her. Additionally, men had to pay off their wives debts or were sent to prison, pay their wives fines or go to prison, and go to prison for their wives crimes.

Then they say that the major world religions blame us for everything. Now, in Christianity and Judaism it does say that Eve was confused into eating the apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but it says that Adam did the same thing, after Eve persuaded him to. In islam, even that is changed, because they eat the fruit at the same time. Nevertheless, God (in the bible) asks Adam first, what he did, and this is interpreted by many christians to mean that Adam has more responsibility than Eve, because she is his wife. Adam is punished, and the text goes into his punishment (twice as much infact) as Eve's. Furthermore, while part of Eve's punishment is to have children, (which the bible says is a gift from God and joyous for women) poor Adam is implicated because he has to provide not just for himself but for Eve and her children as well (if you view this story of a metaphor about relationships) Furthermore, the vast majority of the stories of the bible and quran have men as villains, not women. The bible and Quran actually value female characters from time to time (Esther, Deborah, Sarah, Hagar, Mary Magdalene, Ruth, Aisha, Khadija, Sumaiya, etc)

Lastly she said that women are seen as villainous and adulterous in stories and parables. this is utter bullshit. This is not in the bible, the qur'an, or anywhere else. In both religions, both men and women are punished for adultery. And women are mostly seen as innocent or good. Men are the majority of victims in the Bible, Qur'an, Torah, Greek mythology, norse mythology, Shakespeares plays, modern TV and comicbooks. Men are killed off like flies in mediums of entertainment. But the safety of women is so emphasized, that the man is literally seen as virtuous specifically for saving her.

The bible even says that men have to cherish, love, and never abuse (Ephesians 5:25-33) women, honor women (1 Peter 3:7) provide for women (! Timothy 5:8) and protect women (Malachi 2:16)

I could go on and on, but I wish people didn't view women as so oppressed like this.