Cursory History and Illusory "Oppression"

(The facts and dates presented here are generally correct but don’t bet the ranch on them.) 

The Black Death era in Europe occurred from 1340 to 1400. Suffering from the bubonic plague must have been awful. Think about how difficult life was back then, yet feminists complain about “oppression” in the United States today.

Even by the late 1800s, the majority of workers in the U.S. were farmers.

In the early 1900s, electricity and indoor plumbing were becoming commonplace. “By 1930, roughly ninety percent of people living in cities and big towns had electricity in their homes.” However, “Only about ten percent of Americans living on farms or in other rural areas had electricity.” (Source: Accentenergy.com. Energy 101 -- Electricity and Gas Articles -- History of Electricity.)

All four of my grandparents were born between 1911 and 1918. None of them had more than an eighth grade education. When they began farming (in essence, as soon as they were old enough to help out on their parents’ farms), they used horses, harvested field corn by hand, and sewed their own clothes. That is just the way things were and they counted their blessings. Men weren’t “oppressed” and neither were women. Women weren’t “oppressed” and neither were men.

There was the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939.

There were the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s.

The U.S. was involved in World War II from 1941 to 1945.

Prior to the date A.D. 1945, American men cannot be described as a bunch of Ferrari-driving playboys.

Feminists act as if women have been “oppressed” for millions of years in the United States. It just isn’t so. Life was different back then for both men and women.

I like to go by cultural milestones. Playboy magazine was first printed in 1953. Then there was the classic ’57 Chevy. Already by 1961 President Kennedy used the phrase “affirmative action” and the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963.

So for one glorious decade an American man could flaunt his heterosexuality, drive his Chevy to the levee, and not be discriminated against at work. At most, men of that decade were Chevy-driving Playboy subscribers. Our country has been discriminating in favor of women ever since. White women are the biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action.

In 1930, the median annual household income was $1,200. In 1960, the median annual household income was $5,620. In 2013, the median annual household income is $51,000 and some women are driving BMWs, Audis, and Mercedes.

American women (and men) today are well-fed and rich.