I’ve seen this kind of nonsense taught at universities. They always teach that for women, life before radical feminism wasn’t worth living. It’s a shame because feminism is being taught AS history. The way people lived before feminism is always painted as an absolute oppressive horror. What follows is an excerpt of the way history is now taught at US universities:

1. Piety–Advocates believed that women were far more religious and spiritual in nature than men. Any social critic with awareness knew that men and women were very much the same when it came to spirituality or piety; including Voltaire, Mark Twain, and other sharp observers of the last two centuries. This statement about piety is straight feminist fantasy.
2. Purity–America’s women were supposed to be pure of heart, mind, and, of course, body, not engaging in sexual intercourse until marriage, and even then not enjoying it. No, wrong! America’s women were supposed to not be trashy, but many were - just as people are in any society. America has had lots of prostitutes and loose women over the past centuries, as has every society. In addition, if women were expected not to enjoy sex, why did they keep doing it? I cannot believe that American men would insist that the women they loved NOT enjoy sex. This is pure political shit, complete nonsense.
3. Submission–Women were supposed to live in a kind of perpetual childhood, passively responding to the actions and decisions of men. Wrong again, women as wives and mothers were always seen by men as either partners or as a vitally essential member of the family. Religious men always saw women as the heart of the family, bringing maturity and stability to the family and socializing men. Women have never, ever passively responded to the actions and decisions of men. To say otherwise is to create a false history of victimology - or was that the point?
4. Domesticity–The Industrial Revolution had created a clear division between the public sphere of work and the private sphere of home. Home and hearth, according to the Cult of True Womanhood, became the domain of woman and her refuge from the temptations of everyday life.* The Cult of True Womanhood?? What nonsense! What about the great women of history who ruled nations and led armies? The social disruptions of the Industrial Revolution did not oppress women, it often took them out of tedious agricultural work and gave them many more opportunities for education, employment and independence. The mention of “temptations of everyday life” is code for “she couldn’t fuck around like she can today”. Why don’t they just say post-Victorian values didn’t allow for promiscuous sexual behavior? That is the point they are trying to make. Yes, it’s true that before the “sexual revolution” men and women had fewer sexual choices, but many people believe that this was a good thing. Men and women having sex with many random partners isn’t psychologically healthy and doesn’t lead to stable families for children to grow up in.

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