This is how they broke our grandmothers...

[WOT?*]

A rather horrifying read. 

www.feministcurrent.com/2016/10/04/this-is-how-they-broke-our-grandmothers/

[jeaniebueller]

Commenting so I can read this later

[eclaires]

I think I've read this before as well as a similar article that focused more on the socialization of women and how they were raised and the cycle was perpetuated, generation after generation for their own survival.

[CheeringCharm]

Why didn’t she speak up? That’s why. Why didn’t she stand up for other women? That’s why. European men ritually abused women for expressing any social solidarity with each other, or independence for themselves, for generations.

Men forced women to testify against other women, even their own mothers, to live. Yet they still mock women as jealous and spiteful of each other, still joke about “cat fights.”

This is so sad and true. Women don't have a very developed cultural practice of supporting one another and this is why. It makes sense. It's hard to fight back when the oppressor is so good at dividing you.

This part at the bottom gave me a chill too because it's so disturbing but ultimately true:

Women continue to be driven out of employment by male harassment, publicly vilified in sex-specific ways, tortured for entertainment in the sex industry, and killed for displeasing men.

As then, as ever, these injuries add up to degradation and disadvantage. Though they feel very personal when we are subject to them, the men who benefit from driving us out of public competition for power and resources don’t really care who we are. If another woman was in our place, they’d do it to her.

[lissaholly]

It is very interesting to read context with history. You read stories like the Witch Trials, and slavery and you just think "how?" It gets so boiled down to one word- religion, racism, etc., that you fail to realize that it was complex as anything today.

Of course it was against women, in the name of regilon. I never saw it that way. Of course, it has lingering effects today. It's crazy how things like this get passed off as biology, instead of sociology.

[bugandbibs]

This is a terrifying read. So much still rings true today and will for the next generation.

It's hard to put yourself at risk for others. When to make waves- how big should they be? It's a daily struggle. The big choices are easier, but the day to day is sometimes more important. Sticking up for each other in the community, at work, on the playground. Maybe it's my age or being more comfortable in who I am that has helped me be more vocal in recent years.

I don't have any good answers, but I think it starts with realizing that everything we do is a choice. Not acting is a choice. All choices have consequences and we need recognize that and push against the fear.

[lookingup]

Thank you for sharing.

[momof2]

Some random thoughts:

I recently learned that my aunt has traced our family back to some individuals that were jurors in the Salem witch trials. I already felt very odd about it. This article makes me even more horrified.

I've also been thinking more and more about what I am doing now that my grandchildren will judge some day through a new moral lens. I'm sure I have some things that I firmly believe are "right and moral" that will end up being wrong through the long view of history.

I've also learned a lot in my career about the insanity of women claiming they work better with men. Anyone who says this immediately pisses me off. The women I work with are amazing, and we need to make sure we support one another as much as possible.