MEN BAD
A novel concept, I know.
Patriarchy bad Patriarchy make me sad Patriarchy make me mighty mad Patriarchy... Wait, is that my Dad?
Historical note (keep scrolling down)
This is Sarah Moore Grimké who, despite looking like she wants to talk to the manager was an American abolitionist recognised as the mother of the women’s suffrage movement. In 1837 she wrote a series of letters which you can read here if 1830s typefaces and a Jesus reference every other sentence are your thing.
Seriously, I cannot overstate just how much she mentions Christianity.
Once you’re past that though, the letters are a remarkably detailed and incisive thesis on not just the observable day-to-day realities of the ludicrously unequal society of 1830s America, but also an astute analysis of the underlying socioeconomic patterning driving it, all rounded off with an endearingly polite call for equality.
It’s made all the more remarkable when you discover that, because back then it was widely held that too much learning was bad for a woman and would fill their poor fragile heads with dangerous ideas, she was entirely self taught.
Not just that but founding feminism was just her side hustle, something for her to do when she had a spare half hour from her main gig.
Which was ending slavery.
She wasn’t even going to get DJ sets out of any of this, since DJing wasn’t invented for another 70 years after her death. Talk about unlocking your grindset.