Huh, this resonates with a really striking moment from the book I just finished, Kathleen Hanna's autobiography Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk. She was being lowkey stalked by an ex--he was just constantly LURKING in the hallway outside her apartment, "leaning against my door for days at a time." She was good friends with Kurt Cobain, so one day this happened: "I was working at my desk drinking a beer when I heard Kurt shouting in the hallway, 'Why don't you just leave Kathleen alone?!' I opened my door to see Kurt about to physically fight Luke. I pulled him away (with the help of a hammer I had in my hands) and into my apartment."
She later glosses this as, "He was the first feminist man I ever met who never thought being an ally meant you couldn't defend a woman in bold strokes because she was supposed to do it all for herself. He never flinched."
If Bethany timewarped herself to the Regency period she’d most likely be coded as a working class woman not an Amazon! The fainting fits were a luxury good not afforded to the lower orders of society who were doing a great deal of heavy lifting on a daily basis.
My thought exactly. The upper classes made a big show out of being "delicate," fainting, etc., because it differentiated them from "common" women who had to walk long distances, carry heavy things, haul water, wash clothes by hand, and work hard physically every day of their lives.
My grandmother was born in 1900 on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky; she grew up working in the fields, washing clothing by hand, and doing all the physical labor required of a farm woman. I remember her telling me about a time when she was working in the fields and got caught in a thunderstorm - she took refuge in a cave only to discover there was a nest of copperhead snakes in there, which she nonchalantly killed with her shovel.
When she married a "city feller" and moved to living in town, I think she felt embarrassed about her hillbilly origins. She took to feigning an exaggerated fear of spiders, bugs, mice and other critters - made a big show of getting up on a chair to avoid the spider and wailing that she was going to faint. I remember as a child being confused - hadn't she grown up on a farm, where there were a ton of critters? And didn't she calmly kill poisonous snakes with a shovel? My mom explained that Mamaw was trying to act the way she assumed a fancy city lady would act.
Erika Bachiochi uses the word “vulnerable”, as opposed to weakness, to describe the special needs of women due to their biology - their childbearing capacity and nurturing of infants and children and how our society should be calling upon men to respect that vulnerability. Protecting and providing for women through those vulnerable periods is an example of the complementarity of the sexes.
To my own surprise, I made a rare visit to news sites a couple of days ago, and ended up watching a talk by Erika Kirk, on Combatting Comparison in a (Toxic) Boss Babe Culture. I liked what she said, including that she was a tomboy and athlete as a girl and young woman. I also liked the way she urged girls and women to stay in our own lane, doing what fulfills us, and not compare ourselves to anyone else at any point along the way. And I liked the way her husband's Saturday love notes always ended "And please let me know how I can serve you better." Her husband's protection never demeaned her, just encouraged her. https://youtu.be/6iocRGjgQ3Q?si=9pxH1PSWs7luh4xK
Huh, this resonates with a really striking moment from the book I just finished, Kathleen Hanna's autobiography Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk. She was being lowkey stalked by an ex--he was just constantly LURKING in the hallway outside her apartment, "leaning against my door for days at a time." She was good friends with Kurt Cobain, so one day this happened: "I was working at my desk drinking a beer when I heard Kurt shouting in the hallway, 'Why don't you just leave Kathleen alone?!' I opened my door to see Kurt about to physically fight Luke. I pulled him away (with the help of a hammer I had in my hands) and into my apartment."
She later glosses this as, "He was the first feminist man I ever met who never thought being an ally meant you couldn't defend a woman in bold strokes because she was supposed to do it all for herself. He never flinched."
Eve, what an unexpected and excellent connection!
If Bethany timewarped herself to the Regency period she’d most likely be coded as a working class woman not an Amazon! The fainting fits were a luxury good not afforded to the lower orders of society who were doing a great deal of heavy lifting on a daily basis.
My thought exactly. The upper classes made a big show out of being "delicate," fainting, etc., because it differentiated them from "common" women who had to walk long distances, carry heavy things, haul water, wash clothes by hand, and work hard physically every day of their lives.
My grandmother was born in 1900 on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky; she grew up working in the fields, washing clothing by hand, and doing all the physical labor required of a farm woman. I remember her telling me about a time when she was working in the fields and got caught in a thunderstorm - she took refuge in a cave only to discover there was a nest of copperhead snakes in there, which she nonchalantly killed with her shovel.
When she married a "city feller" and moved to living in town, I think she felt embarrassed about her hillbilly origins. She took to feigning an exaggerated fear of spiders, bugs, mice and other critters - made a big show of getting up on a chair to avoid the spider and wailing that she was going to faint. I remember as a child being confused - hadn't she grown up on a farm, where there were a ton of critters? And didn't she calmly kill poisonous snakes with a shovel? My mom explained that Mamaw was trying to act the way she assumed a fancy city lady would act.
Erika Bachiochi uses the word “vulnerable”, as opposed to weakness, to describe the special needs of women due to their biology - their childbearing capacity and nurturing of infants and children and how our society should be calling upon men to respect that vulnerability. Protecting and providing for women through those vulnerable periods is an example of the complementarity of the sexes.
To my own surprise, I made a rare visit to news sites a couple of days ago, and ended up watching a talk by Erika Kirk, on Combatting Comparison in a (Toxic) Boss Babe Culture. I liked what she said, including that she was a tomboy and athlete as a girl and young woman. I also liked the way she urged girls and women to stay in our own lane, doing what fulfills us, and not compare ourselves to anyone else at any point along the way. And I liked the way her husband's Saturday love notes always ended "And please let me know how I can serve you better." Her husband's protection never demeaned her, just encouraged her. https://youtu.be/6iocRGjgQ3Q?si=9pxH1PSWs7luh4xK