MRA History Korner: Women never worked outside the home because there was no air conditioning

I’m surprised how people haven’t mentioned how grueling domestic labour would have been without electricity, hot water, washing machines etc.

My mother (now sadly passed away), did all the housework, house maintenance and heavy work around the section while my useless father spent the weekends playing golf.

@Fruitloopsie

I should also mention, it was her money that went towards the house deposit, women not being able to take out a loan at the time. My dad barely paid any of the mortgage off then demanded half the value during the divorce. My grandparents life savings made it possible for us to remain in that place.

I think that some of the confusion – particularly noticed in the very conservative religious population here in the U.S.- comes from the mistaken belief that what is now termed a ‘stay at home mom’, was common for all social classes rather than something only possible for those with enough money/assets for such a ‘luxury’. Man and woman worked the fields when the general societal structure had serfs, merchants, nobility and rulers (usually 1 ruler and however many wives were the custom in a specific culture) and when the sun set they had to be inside their shelter/home for safety – safety from not only wild animals but also from other humans. The CPM churches seem to think that all women were like the Southern belles of fiction, and that all will be right with the world if only people would return to those better times – never mind the fact that it wasn’t better for everyone and the ‘good times’ are predominately a notion plucked from fiction that the beneficiaries can focus on and forget about the problems that part of history involved in a world that increasingly gives rights, freedom, and privilege to the ‘others’, not just them.

Why it’s come down to people thinking that everything is supposed to be black and white – this way or that way – no possibility for grey or flexibility…Believing that everything was peachy keen with men running the world without any contribution from women other than the gestation of progeny and only incubators who don’t try to disrupt the general order getting to enjoy everything – the largesse of the patriarchs. Humans wouldn’t have gotten to where we are without both genders (or asexual reproduction) and things aren’t going to go back to ‘how they were’ pre-feminism, pre-civil rights, etc…unless we collectively allow that.

@Kat

Very good article, but bloody hell those comments. Even the people who posted in support of it all followed up with “Also, CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY.” *headdesk*

Sometimes I wonder if it’s even possible to end toxic masculinity without ending ableism first. It seems like every time anybody tries to start the discussion, even the few people who’ll admit that it exists can’t help but drown it out with their favourite dangerous red herring.

I miss NWOSlave too. The blog is going from strength to strength but the trolls are a pale shadow of what they were like four years ago. Remember when we had him, David K Meller and Mr. Al posting regularly at the same time.

Also, as Alan has already strongly hinted, many other countries are nowhere near as air-conditioned as the US. I too have never worked or lived in an air-conditioned building, and such things are still rare enough in the UK that you really notice when you walk into one. So if that’s what the suffragettes were really campaigning about, the struggle continues to this day.

@raysa

My husband and I are good, thanks for asking.

It started raining last Monday night, and the downpour did not stop for a full 7 days. About 10% of the time, we had drizzle. The other 90% was full on, open sky down pour. I have never seen anything like it.

I’m glad to hear that the two of you are safe. Sending good thoughts to you and the rest of South Carolina.

@raysa, SFHC

That salon article is a good read.

Did you see some of the comments? Ugh.

Very good article, but bloody hell those comments. Even the people who posted in support of it all followed up with “Also, CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY.” *headdesk

No, I didn’t read the letters. But I know that when this kind of article is published on Salon or Slate, the comments from the MRAs pour in, and each MRA is likely to comment again and again. I’ve been busy with work, dinner, and carefully and delicately removing mats from my cat’s fur. She rewarded me by scratching my bare forearm and biting me right where the bone is. Ouch. Next time, I’m going to wear my puffy jacket.

The U.S. is a big country with a wide range of climates. I live in northern California, which has a mild climate similar to the U.K.’s, and most buildings here don’t have air conditioning. But most of the country has more extreme weather.

It’s still rare for college dorms to have air conditioning. My historically female college doesn’t have air-conditioned dorms, and certainly didn’t when women started studying there in 1860.

I think A/C is becoming more popular in Europe although it’s not that much of a necessity here. My university building has A/C, which is nice for laborants* running around a lot in lab coats, people with offices on the sunny side, and for the freezers generating heat in the basement. Grocery stores in Finland are partially refrigerated because people want to pick their fresh produce from open shelves. In recent warm summers some people have bought A/C machines for their homes even though Finnish homes are generally kept fairly warm.

* Spellcheck suggested “labor ants”, I tip my hat for that.

If I weren’t so lazy I’d test my supposition that thermostats in the US are set to setpoints inversely proportional to the outdoor temperature. To make it a paper is need some sociologist coauthor to wax poetic about why.

The coldest I’ve ever been indoors was in Houston; I’ve been cold in summer in New England and in Chicago, but never like Houston. And I’ve sweltered in Maine and Wisconsin in winter.

Canada doesn’t appear to have this problem. The office isn’t too hot in winter, and is only a bit cool in summer. But where people live in Canada doesn’t have nearly the range of temperature that the US has, so it might just be a lack of data.

Don’t swear – Humberside was an administrative abomination. You’re either from Yorkshire or Lincolnshire.

I’ve had people tell me that it’s not “real Yorkshire” either. “Humberside” was its name when I lived there, so I use that for precision.

My condolences if you’re from Hull.

Hull postcode, but comfortably outside the city limits.

Of course just to be pedantic, the city is Kingston; it’s the river that’s the Hull. The Humber is the estuary bit.

It’s all Yorkshire though. And bearing in mind that but for the civilising influence of the bridge people in Lincolnshire would still be painting themselves blue and hiding from eclipses I think that probably counts as a Yorkshire protectorate.

I once volunteered to teach literacy in the Ouelessebougou area of Mali. The women there walked six miles a day to get water from the nearest river-three miles there and three miles back. They carried several gallons of water on their heads at a time, usually while carrying a child on their backs, and frequently while pregnant. And the water from the river was so dirty that you felt full after drinking it. And they occasionally had to fight off venomous snakes that could poison and kill them. And then they cooked food over open fires and choked on the black smoke. And then, after all of this, they would spend two hours a night by candlelight learning to read. And then they wake up the next day and do it all over again.

I doubt NWOslave has ever worked that hard in his life.

Ahistorical bs. I’m surprised that no one challenges any of these jokers when they make claims that are blatantly untrue. It’s almost as if you cannot be sexist and truthful at the same time.