Life Before Feminism: A Map of the Open Country of a Woman’s Heart
An alert reader pointed me to this amazing “map” from the 1830s, posted on Ptak Science Books and originally found here. Described as “A Map of the Open Country of a Woman’s Heart,” it presents a less-than-flattering picture of the supposed shallowness, vanity and selfishness of the female of the species. Click on the pic above to see it full size.
It’s amazing how closely this resembles so many Manosphere “critiques” of evil modern women; the main difference is that it’s a bit more polite in its language. Also, no mention of stinky vaginas.
Manospherians love to talk about “taking the red pill,” as if their ideas are all new and cool and Matrixy. Actually, of course, their ideas are old as fuck. It’s more like they are taking a gulp of Dr. Flimflam’s Electro Magnetic Misogyny Fluid.
Below, another amazing picture also found on Ptak, which presents data on where women’s eyes linger when looking at men. (Again, click on it to see it full size.) I suspect this one would be a bit more confounding to the Manospherians of today, in that it doesn’t show women looking only at the dude’s wallet. The post on Ptak offers a more detailed explanation of what this picture is about.
Posted on January 20, 2012, in $MONEY$, evil women, life before feminism, misogyny, pics, reactionary bullshit, vaginas. Bookmark the permalink. 664 Comments.
Maybe not. You certainly are if you’re Victorian or Tasmanian.No cassowaries in the suburbs of Wollongong, unfortunately. Well, fortunately, really. I do love them but I wouldn’t want to meet one in the wild, y’know?
I’ve never been to Australia but it always seems like it would make a person rather nervous, in that most of the wildlife seems to be determined to kill you.
@Dracula
I got it. That’s an excellent show, too.
Before we leave the googles and moustaches, an ad from 1849
BULLOCK DRIVERS.
WANTED, about TWENY BULLOCK DRIVERS, on the Murrumbidgee River. Applications to be made to Francis Taofe, Esq, Multana; John Peter, Esq, J.P. Gumly; Edward Ryan, Esq, Geelong; and George Flood, Esq, Norandara. None need apply unless they have a good MOUSTACHE.
Wagga Wagga
10th September, 1849
I’m well west of you then, but mum was born in the Gong.
CassandraSays, the saying always goes, [animals] are alright, as long as you don’t annoy them.
As if you’d go, “you know what? I think I’ll go and annoy that cassowary. That’s a good idea!” :)
Mind you, I’m the person who once attempted to pet a shark (it was a small one), so maybe it’s a good thing for me to avoid countries that are full of animals that it’s best to avoid.
“It was only a little one!” best excuse ever :)
@CassandraSays
As Magpie says, the meme is a little exaggerated. I mean, I’ve only ever shared a swimming pool with a shark once, only 2 of the 3 varieties of snake I’ve seen within 5 minute’s walk of my suburban home are among the top 10 deadliest in the world, and if I don’t go in the shed, I won’t see a deadly spider more than once or twice a month.
There aren’t even that many shark attacks at beaches near where I live.
The shark in question was, again, only a little one, though. Poor thing got pulled out of the sea by the intake vent thingo.
Speaking of little ones and spiders: if an Australian tells you they’ve seen a really big spider, be prepared for a really big spider.
That’s the fella!
(warning – pic of spider)
@ Magpie
Even better was the time when Mum told me and my best friend not to play with the rocks in the garden because scorpions liked to hide under them during the day when it was too hot (in Libya), and then later she found the two of us methodically lifting up every rock in the garden to see if we could find a scorpion because we thought they were cool.
And this is why I should never visit Australia. My cousin lives in Perth and she agrees – I’d probably manage to get myself killed by trying to cuddle a kangeroo or something.
There’s actually one of those about the size of my hand in my loungeroom at the moment.
That’s an weird-looking huntsman though – it’s all three-dimensional. They’re usually such flat spider.
@CassandraSays
Did you ever end up seeing any scorpions? Were they particularly scary? I saw some specimens in a museum and was surprised at how small they were. Even the big King Scorpion ones they use in movies. I imagine this is how people feel when they meet film stars and find out they’re not as tall/hot/whatever in real life.
Scorpions! Hooly dooly! but that’s kids for you, Mum didn’t specifically say in so many words that scorpions sting with poison, kids don’t think of that. very literal, kids. you find yourself having to tell them things like “do not attempt to eat this giraffe”
Should not have clicked the link. I never want to sleep again now.
I wonder if they’re related to these ones (similar name, but in Asia).
http://natural-japan.net/?p=115
Yeah, that huntsman does look a bit unusual. Maybe it’s pregnant.
Vaguely remember looking under rocks and finding scorpions about 2 or 3cm long. We were only little though, so I don’t know if they really were scorpions. Good job we didn’t live in Libya!
Do you feel lucky, punk?
The japanese huntsmen do seem very similar, both in looks and habits. I wonder if there is a rule in Japan too: they’re fine as long as they stay higher than the light switch. :)
katz: Awwwwww!
Oh, you wouldn’t want a pregnant hunstman around.
(trigger warning for lots and lots of spiders)
My sister’s friend’s parents woke one morning to a corner of the bedroom absolutely full of tiny little huntsman (I think they were, anyway – it was a while ago) spiders. I’ve had them breeding in my house, I think, but I’ve never seen more than one little one at a time.
To me, they’re so big they go beyond scary to cute and anthropomorphisable, particularly knowing that they’re harmless. They’re almost cuddly, and it’s really sad when to see them missing legs. I’ve named huntsmans (huntsmen) around the house, and talked to them.
This is not a standard Australian opinion or behaviour, mind. And I still wouldn’t touch them.
@Katz, Whoever Katz is quoting:
Does spider-hand-person from that Natural-Japan link get any hotter?
Oh no, we knew that scorpions were venemous and aggressive, it’s just that children are a. stupid and b. insane. My mum did once describe parenting as trying to keep your children alive for long enough for them to realize that they’re not immortal.
Now when we were lying under a tree and one crawled up my leg (my bestie grabbed my arm since I was half asleep and went DON’T MOVE), then it actually occurred to me that maybe I didn’t like scorpions so much after all.
@ Magpie
This may amuse you – one Westerner’s tale of his encounter with the hunstman in Japan. My favorite bit is all his coworkers going “giant spiders? oh no, we don’t have those here”.
http://weirdtales.net/wordpress/2007/10/23/the-year-of-ninja-spiders/
I find spiders far more alarming than scorpions, not sure why, especially if they’re hairy.
Aaaaaaargh! I have a thing about spiders. Scorpions could only be worse!
lowquacks: I admit I’ve avoided looking at the spider pics, not wanting to discover where this particular one falls on the cute to nightmare-inducing scale.
@Katz: If this helps, it’s roughly the size of the hand holding it, but I think it’s cute. It’s fuzzy and brown and spindly rather than a thick black ball of fluff like most true tarantulas.
I am entirely the wrong person to ask about whether it’s nightmare-inducing though.
They are cute. but with fangs. fuzzy brown spiders = OK. shiny black spiders = trip to hospital
@ lowquacks
We had a…well, explosion seems like the best description, of baby spiders once in my house in Saudi. They were so tiny that they weren’t at all scary, until I thought about it later and realized that they would inevitably get bigger.
By the way, in the realm of wierd pets tarantulas are still the ones I find most baffling. Even lizards I sort of get it, they can be cute, but a tarantula? There’s something about a hairy spider that’s just very disturbing.
@CassandraSays
I hear they’re very strokable.
(Shudders)
*de-lurks for the spider talk*
I love huntsmans – they’re so fuzzy! I’ve had some giant ones in my house, with the largest easily being bigger than my hand.
Strokable? I reckon I’d have a stroke if I tried it!
Well, I must admit that I’ve just watched a video of a Goliath Bird-Eating spider being fed a mouse, and can certainly see why you wouldn’t want one as a pet – live food is kinda squicky, and they jump so quickly and unexpectedly and the name’s unsettling enough in itself. They’re an ugly brown Asian tarantula though – the New World ones are pretty colours!
For some reason I find brightly colored insects, spiders, etc less creepy. Bright colored beetles I actually think are pretty, but anything black or brown and hairy looking I don’t like at all. Also very round bodies seem to exaggerate the effect – with both tarantulas and bumblebees it’s the combination of the body shape and the furriness that bugs me.
Wait, they’re not Asian. I must’ve been thinking of something else. Seems not all the New World ones are pretty.
I must remember to actually research things before hitting “Post Comment” in future.
Same thing with roaches versus grasshoppers or crickets. They’re similar looking really, but the bright green crickets I think are cute, whereas roaches just trigger some sort of primal fear of disease.
Also on the “horrifying creatures that should not exist” list – flying roaches.
@CassandraSays
What about something that’s round and furry, but also incredibly pretty and colourful?
(trigger warning: Unbelievably massive spider. And I say this as an Australian.)
Well, it’s quite pretty as a photo, but if I saw one in real life I wouldn’t be happy unless it was safely behind glass.
Also I don’t mind spiders if I’m outside, I just don’t like it when they’re indoors because I imagine them sneaking up on me when I’m asleep, jumping out when I’m in the bathroom, etc.
Washed a huntsman down the bathtub drain with hot water once. Later I was on the loo when it came crawling out of the floor drain, between my feet.
(More shuddering)
Just wait, tomorrow’s angry rant will be about how that EVIL BITCH spits on the plain, unattractive spiders and then BLATANTLY FAWNS OVER the cool looking, colorful ones. My hypergamy is so extreme that it even extends to arachnids!
But of course. That shuddering? Gina tingles.
Did you see that PUA quote in which he described the look a woman who’s really into you gives you during sex as part fear and part daddy?
Compared to what reading that makes me feel I think I’ll go for the petting a tarantula option.
I think I remember that. IIRC, it wasn’t the standard sex look, it was the look one strived to see as part of being good at sex.
I remember thinking the PUA scene really doesn’t care too much about women’s pleasure except where it can be used as a high score – “I can make HB10’s cum so hard they look at me like I’m their dad crossed with Chewbacca, like women do when they’re feeling really orgasmic, as you should all know!”
If she cries you get extra points! Because women cry when they’re having really great orgasms, you know. And then they get up and put on their 60DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD bras and leave like you want them to, because you’re an alpha now.
You guys, I mean gyns, or something: SPIDERS=FEMINISTS. BECAUSE MANY EAT THEIR MATES AND ALSO “BLACK WIDOWS” AND ALSO HAIRY AND SCARY AND THEY HAVE EIGHT LEGS.
NONE OF WHICH THEY SHAVE!
From the weirdtales link:
And this, right here, is why I am never moving to Australia. *checks* or, wait, Japan, was it? or Hawaii. anywhere, really. I’m not even going to leave this chair, actually. *paranoid 360 degree scan*
also, too, for some reason I am reading this John Connolly mystery even though I have to go to bed soon and it opens with this woman who’s found dead in her car and a literal ecosystem for the brown recluses that killed her. The car is a mass of webbing, and you don’t even want to know where they found the black widows which were presumably stuffed in there for lagniappe.
no, it still isn’t as creepy as most of the manboobz on display here.
I still question my timing.
Only a car full of spiders? There’s a whole forest filled with spiderweb in Texas (I think?), I hear. All the spiders have banded together to act almost as one organism, and that’s in a species that is usually solitary.
Oh God. I’ve seen the pictures for that. GAH.
still, they haven’t actually found a human body strung up in there, have they?
Yet.
Only husks
@Shadow: I know you asked this two pages ago, but I’ve been away from my computer. Sorry.
The surgery I’m meant to have (provided the insurance company agrees) is to correct my bite. I’m told it’s not a major or complicated procedure. The Internet tells me it looks like this:
All in all, I guess there are worse things I could do over spring break.
Why oh why did I look at the spider pics?
And read the spider comments.
My friend had that surgery years ago! It went very well for her. She was just starting first year university at the time, so the jaw-wired shut stage was difficult for finding things to eat on campus. But really, it goes by quickly.
@belledame222
I’m going to think of that next time I find a spider hiding under the car door handle. :P
I had pet Huntsman spiders when i was younger… AWESOME
Lauralot, I have an overbite too, my sister in law once commented to me (sigh) that i would need to have a jaw operation to correct my facial problem…..
Oops sorry Lauralot, you have an underbite which is slightly different to an overbite :)
I have a very weak jaw that means I don’t have a jawline :(
I would need to have my bottom jaw broken and pushed forward to give me a jawline and not a turkey neck…
(Yeah MRAL some us have wimminz have fucked up faces too..)
That diagram can’t be accurate, it’s missing point # DAT ASS.
The biggest evil is that modern women are fighting against men while men are protecting them. Feminists are taking the gain of gender hypocrisy today. Feminists do not like to accept that men are protecting them.
Lauralot, a friend of mine recently had the surgery, it went fine.
I just had my tooth implant post put in yesterday, and today the right side of my face looks like Marlon Brando’s in The Godfather. It was Barzini all along!
Why did I click on those spider pics? WHY GOD, WHY?
Awww man! The one night i decide to crash a little early people decide to pull out the wacky wildlife stories!
@Lauralot
Good to hear :D My aunt’s an oral surgeon, and realignment is one of her most performed surgeries, so it’s pretty common. Hopefully your insurance company sees it the same way
ozy: Re literotica: It’s, I think, poor writers who think they need to be specific so people will know.
And so many people have no clue about how bra sizes work; esp. men. Male written erotica has some of the worst aspects of this… see my previous parody about, “ten inches of solid man meat.” Why straight guys feel the need to tell other straight guys (the usual audience for that sort of, ‘letter’, how massively over-endowed they are… it makes me think they aren’t having the sort of sex they are boasting about in that letter. The guys I know who are, “hung like horses” have all said it was not the great benefit so many men think; that they’ve been told manual/oral was all they were getting, from some partners.
Which is fine, except that sometimes you want something else.