I've got a little quote for you, and I want you to guess when it was written:
"You may think that undue stress is being laid upon this driving force in her, upon this business ability. But remember that this was fifteen years or more ago, before women had invaded the world of business by the thousands, to take their place, side by side, salary for salary, with men."
Go ahead, guess when that was written. I'll wait. When was 15 years ago before women had invaded the workforce?
... waiting...
1917! Nineteen hundred and effin' seventeen!
*snarls* I'm sick of being lied to and jerked around about women's history.
Why wasn't I taught about Nellie Bly as a child? Why wasn't I told that women journalists were normal in the late 19th century?
Why wasn't I told about the roll of women war workers in bringing about American women's suffrage? Why wasn't I told there WERE woman workers during WWI. Rosie the Riveter was nothing new; she was part of a very long tradition.
In fact, why wasn't I told that since the 1920s if not before, most women have worked at some point in their life. Yes, even during the 1950s.
What else is being hidden back there? I want to know, dammit! I want every 11-year-old girl in this country to know!
You find some really scary/shocking/annoying stuff when you start reading primary sources. >:P
Somewhat different rant, I am really truly sick of the "romantic stalker" storyline. Stalking is not romantic. Ever. It's creepy and stalkers should be forced to have regular talks with Mr. Police Man about why it is not appropriate behavior. And a shrink would be good too.
And the storyline itself is un-freakin'-believably insulting. "Women don't really know what's best for them or what they want. Here, this terribly creepy man knows what you want better than you do. Give up your free will and self-determination and give in to him. He won't go away until you do." And this is supposed to be romantic? Who do I need to strangle?
And off of that, I'm really sick of certain men trying to tell me what women want and what women think. What the hell makes them think that they are more qualified than me on this topic? Last I checked, I'm the one with boobs!
I need to knit me one of these for moments like this, I think. I wonder what ever happened to the stuffed rat creature I used to keep around for when I needed to smack something around and shout "stupid STUPID rat creature!"
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I love old books, and I love old books for women. I too have been amazed to find that what is treated like some radical thought of the 1960's was being talked of in the 1790's or 1840's or the 1900's ...it's very frustrating to find that women haven't really been silent for ages as much as they've been ignored or dismissed.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed (strange-sound choice of words) your comments on the lack of romance in being stalked. I've had those issues personally over the years (I'm still hiding from an ex-bf I haven't seen in 15 years), but it also made me think of one of those movie trailer mash shorts. It was of "When Harry Met Sally" and instead of treating it as a romantic comedy, it treated it as a horror stalker film. A pal of mine showed it to me after I said the only difference between romantic leads and stalkers is that in the romantic films the girl falls for the nut job by the end of the film.