Home Economics Story, The (1951)

Mine too. My university is a huge science and pre-law school. We're 56% women to 44% male. I don't think any of us ladies would enjoy being shunted off to a Home Economics program.

Home economics skills are important, for both women AND men. And, fortunately for women, being a housewife is no longer the only option available to us. I don't want to be a mother or a wife and I'm so blessed to live in a country where I don't have to be either, but, if I wanted to, I could. Feminism has given women more options, it hasn't taken away the old ones.

A lot of girls like me in the 70s bought feminism hook line & sinker. I'd have rather died than been stuck in the "dark ages" at home in an apron raisin' yungins waiting on my husband - that's the way I was taught to see it too. So feminism DID take options away because the "old" option as you call it had been thoroughly corrupted. It wasn't until 2003 that the epiphany hit & I saw the truth. I changed my life but you can't catch up or make up for DECADES lost. I mourn it, it was unfair.

Those options weren't lost to you, or taken away. You didn't realize they were there. That isn't feminism's fault. My mother was born in '54 and she still had a husband, kids, and a meaningful job outside the home.

No I knew they were there, my mother was born in 1925, she was at home, nobody forced me, but by force is not how feminism won. My point don't underestimate feminism's impact on young minds. Feminism taught me to disdain my mother's role. I bought it, I lived that life & I know. My life is real, not a statistic & don't minimize the fact that I lost decades of it because of feminism. It influenced me in a very harmful way & I understand the damage now. Feminism is not about rights & choices.

Feminism is absolutely about rights and choices. I have a right to choose between being a mom, a spouse, a lover, a professional, and any combination of those. Feminism isn't tricking me into thinking that stay-at-home moms are unfulfilled and sad. It isn't what I want and, still, I have the option to change my mind about that too. Feminism reminds me everyday that, whatever choice I, or any other woman makes, they are all valid. My life is better because of feminism.

You think feminists happily invite us to choose whatever path we want, and either way our choices will be met with equal enthusiasm? That's pure fantasy. The fact is the leaders in feminism have always been openly hostile towards traditional women's roles. They've declared that the effect of marriage on women makes us sick, it oppresses us like slavery, raising children makes us unhappy, they even blame it for the cause of society's problems. I used to spout their quotes, I was one of them.

One more thought, there was always a conflict inside me. I LOVED my home ec class, sewing a skirt & apron. My best memory is making lunch & nervously serving it to our coaches. The euphoria I felt watching them gratefully gobble it down was an experience that was never eclipsed by any other accomplishment in school. But I stuffed those feelings down, because I learned that I shouldnt enjoy THAT, it's archaic. But how tragic! Feminism is at fault for blackening that wonderful moment for me.

No, it's not that those ideals are laughable- it is that those are the only ideals deemed feasible for women to achieve. I am a man who would like to hold the door open for my future wife- and I hope that she is a Dr. Or a lawyer. Or a housewife, if that is her choice (and realistic).

Demmwit is right. The ideas are sound. Once you get past the sexist implications of these old videos, consider that if we taught some kind of healthy living classes in high school right now we wouldn't be doing things like taxing soda, or trying to pass massive health care bills.