We often hear the narrative that women in history played the role of men's subjects, and had no rights of their own.
While this is true on some levels, there is a lot that is also taken out of context. We apply our modern standards of living to those living in a much less tame society.
Men may have had more rights...but they also had more responsibilities. Historically, this was a fairly even trade.
The fact we can't ignore is that men and women are different, physically speaking. In an era where we can insulate ourselves from the harsher truths of nature, our forefathers were not afforded that luxury.
So in the forging of civilization, it was necessary to make use of each sex's physical assets to allow both genders to flourish.
Lets be clear: life was not easier for men than it was for women. In many ways, it was much, much harder.
Because men are larger and stronger, a mans role was naturally to protect and provide for his wife and children.
This meant that from an early age, in most social classes, boys began to learn the trade of hard labor. So they would grow to be men who would toil in the fields, under the sun, while their wives remained indoors making use of what was provided to them.
Men were also expected to go to war, as needed. And through much of human history, this was needed often. Men were required to see the most horrific, bloody scenes. To kill and often times be killed.
While women remained home. Albeit, without the right to vote or (often times) own property.
Women are smaller and softer. Our role is clearly that of a nurturer. Our bodies were best made use of in the home. Bringing children into the world and rearing them. Cooking and cleaning and creating a pleasant place of rest for hardworking husbands.
It was no less a necessary position than that of men. It was simply different.
Because of the simple fact that exposure to the bleak world of years gone by would be unsafe for women, we were often times less aware of the world around us.
Because of this unfortunate naivety, we were not able to vote or hold political positions (in most cases). Not because women were seen as inferior. Simply because we were different.
With the industrial revolution, men and women's roles and responsibilities in society began to change.
The world was becoming much safer. There were more opportunities for women to work and to contribute to society in more ways than we had previously been able.
Yet as the years passed and our share of the work grew, our rights did not.
This necessitated the suffragette movement. One of the few women's rights movements in recent history with valid concerns. They fought for equal rights. And they won!
Now we live in an era where women are equal to men in every. We have voting, property, reproductive, etc rights. We've even won ourselves the "privilege" of facing the atrocities of the battlefield.
But we're still complaining. We're making up micro aggressions. Mansplaining and man spreading. Rape culture. None of which are real.
We're perpetuating the idea of ourselves as victims. We're telling men and boys that they are villains and that they have been throughout history.
We're ripping traditional masculinity and femininity apart as oppressive, forgetting that it creates the perfect balance between the sexes.
We're deconstructing the harmony that took years to create.
We are privileged to live in a society where women can work in an office next to men. And most men don't need to go to war.
Yet we choose not to appreciate that and instead look to the past and judge our ancestors despite being totally unable to understand the world they lived in. And we blame them for problems in today's society, that simply don't exist..
There are two sides to every pancake. To think that men, once upon a time, conspired to oppress women is completely unrealistic. Our history together is of making use of what we each had to offer in an environment we couldn't control.
Today's brand of feminism is divisive and unnecessary.
We are still different. But we ARE equal.
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