@productofsaturn: the 1950s suburban housewife is not the epitome of the divine feminine. being submissive to your husband, with no identity, is not living and the women of the 1950s and 1960s were horribly depressed. women desire more out of life than simply being wives and mothers. and in this time of rising conservatism, the capitalization of the tradwife with their farm houses and fresh baked bread, and the push to get back to “the good old days” of the nuclear family and a woman’s right to be submissive, we must remember what our grandmothers and great-grandmothers went through, and the pain they endured in silence for fear of rejection and shame. women are not meant to only be housewives and mothers. I am not saying that you can’t be a sahm and love your life, but to depict it as “the route to the divine feminine” is disingenuous and simply, historically, untrue.

spinnyfings :

Marriage is the oldest form of slavery.

Misspopcoin :

"i love being a housewife!" good for you! but i hope you understand that it is your choice to be a housewife. women back then had NO CHOICE.

the.suburban.hippie :

They literally gave them speed and quaaludes to make it through

Mommy Long Legs :

๑🌹๑ :

lowkey it's giving zoochosis, like how if animals in zoos have low stimulation they go insane

Caz-with-Pizazz :

I met a woman in Nepal who was a traditional housewife in a prominent family and one night she pulled me aside and told me “I feel like the door to my life is closed” with a kind of desperate sadness. I’ll never forget it.

Nani 💖 :

You know what else gets me? THAT WASNT THAT LONG AGO

itz_7_0 :

HEAVY on “I feel like I don’t exist” and I only had ONE kid

B :

My grandma was an opera singer who loved to play piano. After she married my grandpa she gave it all up. She had to beg to get a piano in the house. We romanticize that era, but the only people it was really working for were the men in charge.

Megatron :

And they’re still telling us that being a stay at home is peak womanhood.

cosmiccowgirl888 :

literally sobbing for all the women who’s lives were ruined 😭😭😭😭😭😭

Robinski :

Side note, when they say “I want a woman like my mother or grandmother” not realizing it’s mothers and grandmothers telling some of us not to be like them.

Jobin :

My grandma’s siblings all became alcoholics bc they desperately needed an escape- this is from their own words. Abusive men dominated their lives.

oneandoneisone 🍉 :

Not to mention the complete misunderstanding of mental health conditions like postpartum depression… they gave my grandma shock therapy for this 😭

Qbert :

they weren’t allowed to have their own money or bank accounts and couldn’t be on the deeds. no autonomy.

Tay💕 :

They were all so young when they got married and started having children. Barely adults.

ladyfern01 :

Some of the women who went through this are STILL ALIVE. This happened less than a lifetime ago. We cannot go back.

🧿 :

my mother was a housewife at that time and was sooooo depressed. she raised us all to avoid her life. her famous words were "never depend on a man for anything" because it trapped her.

akpartyhat :

You know what’s the worst part? It’s boring AND overstimulating . It’s simple AND stressful. It’s mundane AND the stakes feel so high. It’s never having a moment alone AND deeply isolating. It’s the most love AND the most anguish I’ve ever felt.

hannah | ATL photographer :

“I feel as if I don’t exist.”

Melancholy :

being a stay at home mother and wife sounds like literal prison to me

user8126526345756 :

I'm so sad for these women

James :

It’s almost like they were whole human beings with thoughts and dreams of their own

power :

poison deaths went down when divorce appeared 🤔 curious

Professor Boo Tea :

Mommies little helper. Drugs. that’s how these women survived the mundane life that was expected of them . How do people think the women’s movement started? The 1950s women wanted more for their little girls and they told them so. So they started to fight through generations. Now they want to take it all back? No way.