I have been slowly moving towards the belief that the entire modern narrative on women is sick and wrong.
That women have been dominated by the patriarchy since forever
That women are interested in free sex
That women are liberated by “careers”
That women should submit to “relationships”
That women benefit from the availability of abortions
That women benefit from divorce.
And so on.
Here’s an interesting point. It comes from a history of the French Revolution, Citizens, by Simon Schama. He describes the play Nicodemus in the Moom or the Pacific Revolution that played in the early years of the French Revolution and featured a peasant sent to the Moon.
There he discovered an amiable but forlon king hectored by a difficult and devious wife.
Wat? But I thought that all women were completely dominated by the patriarchy! How could any woman before the glorious birth of Mary Wollstonecraft have had enough power to be “difficult?”
30 year old feminist Louise Perry used to believe the liberationist rhetoric. Not any more.
Remove the progressive goggles, and the history of the last 60 years looks different. The sexual revolution isn’t only a story of women freed from the burdens of chastity and motherhood. It is also a story about the triumph of the playboy.
The new sexual culture isn’t so much about the liberation of women, as so many feminists would have us believe, but the adaptation of women to the expectations of a familiar character: Don Juan, Casanova, or, more recently, Hugh Hefner.
You wanna talk about oppression? Pressuring women and girls to conform to the culture of male predators is what it’s all about. So, writes Perry:
“Distrust” anyone “that pressures you to ignore your moral intuition”
“Chivalry is actually a good thing.”
Reduce rape “by keeping convicted rapists in prison”
“All girls and women… should avoid being alone with men they don’t know or men who give them the creeps.”
Hold “off on having sex with a new boyfriend for at least a few months” to discover “whether or not he’s serious about you”
Monogamous marriage is by far the most stable and reliable foundation on which to build a family.
Guess what. Women aren’t put on this earth to have a career. Women really don’t connect with casual sex, for a host of reasons. Women really need to be fixed up with a permanent partner — i.e. husband — by their mid to late 20s. Divorce doesn’t solve anything unless the three As: adultery, abuse, addiction. Women need to have the first baby by 30. And so on.
Women have not been oppressed by the patriarchy since the dawn of time. Women have lived “sheltered” lives because they need shelter and protection: from violent men; during pregnancy and childbirth; while raising children; when they have lost the bloom of youth. And they need monogamous marriage to keep the father of their children close to home and to his kids. And young girls need to be constrained because they are too naive to be fed to the wolves of young men.
In other words, if you look at all the social and cultural institutions around the regulation of behavior between the sexes, it all makes sense. Hey, it ain’t perfect, but we ain’t looking for perfection, just sensible rules that protect decent and honest people from predators, get the next generation on the ground, and help honest people live honest lives.
As the old saw says:
Women give sex in order to get love; men give love in order to get sex.
Any questions?