Courage, Change & Chance

It takes courage to take a chance on change.

"A good researcher should not be afraid to change his mind; he should not feel desperate because his comforting beliefs leave him as soon as he begins to think critically. "

Jacques Vallée - Passage to Magonia

Lenon Honor

Time always tells the truth.

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Thursday, July 9, 2009

Feminism and the Death of Beauty Part 3

by Jean Bush

Lillian Gilbreth, mother to 12 children, who was immortalized in the 1950 movie "Cheaper by the Dozen," and who ran an active household with her devoted husband Frank, was seemingly a model of nostalgic Victorian virtues.However, from 1910 to 1921, the Gilbreths conducted some of the very first time and motion studies as industrial plant consultants. Crossing that thin, fine barrier between public domain and very private lives, they used their own home to study the "scientific management and the elimination of wasted motions." This mentality needed only a few more decades and ever increasing technology to completely destroy Victorian domestic virtues and tranquility.

Using a stop watch and experimenting on their own children, the Gilbreths clocked and dissected every household task, from washing dishes, bed making, to buttoning a vest. 3 seconds were saved if one started at the bottom instead of the top. Lillian wrote in 1927, "So many prejudices of an older generation are passing away; and anyone who has been through modern laundries, bakeries and preserving plants, will find herself looking with suspicion on the unstandardized procedures of many a home."

The third wrecker of Victorian ideals and family life was Christine Frederick. Writing in 1929 the book, "Selling Mrs. Consumer," she advocated households should "run like a clock." While editor of Ladies' Home Journal, she continuously gnawed away at the the domestic vision promoted by generations of happy and devoted women. A sworn enemy of what Edith Wharton called "the art of civilized living," Frederick insisted women trade quality for quantity by standardizing each household task "so you can do it every day in an identical manner without much mental attention." Applying this approach to all salable goods, she even pushed the appetizing look of a loaf of bread, not its nutritional value that so concerned Victorian cooks. She portrayed wearing apparel as "smart" not durable. In fact, durability be damned! Since then, durability and style have become a vice instead of a virtue.

We now, unfortunately, take this planned obsolescence for granted. The frugal domestic ways of former generations was no longer a point of accomplishment or a character-forming lesson for children, but a "petty and ridiculous" practice.

Saving time became the bottom line in the home and the hand worked and treasured keepsakes that told of timeless continuity, security and certainty against rampant consumerism, fell by the wayside, to be swept away in a rising tide of commercial acquisitions and desires. And worse, women were told, and allowed themselves to be convinced, that they "had better things to do" then making a home, raising children to be responsible and caring citizens, and insuring their husbands the sanctity of a home without outside disturbances and distractions. Love ruled roost and happy and contented women beautified all that was good in society.

In such promotion, we can see how the current mindlessness regarding homemaking and family raising, has ended up with the State and its attendant social agencies, having all but taken over the home and are turning out new generations of obedient, consuming slaves. In our current ugly and "equal" societies, because of feminism, women are forever bitter and discontent, men are frustrated and have relinquished their ageless roles of head of the household, providers, loving partners to their wives and virtuous examples of character to their children and communities.

To become beautiful again, women need to be loved, protected and fulfilled, and must once more take charge of home, hearth and heart.

Ladies and gentlemen, the ball is in your court.

(All quotes and general references taken from Simple Social Graces, by Linda S. Lichter.)

8 comments:

  1. Dear Jean,

    A terrific series.

    So refreshing to find a woman with those views. I thought such a creature long extinct.

    You write very well, very clearly and succinctly, and have a clear understanding of the issue. Here's an idea; Why not a `Book.` There's definitely a market demographic for that one.

    Really very impressive.

    Philip

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  2. your views are so brilliant but why share opinions shouldn't you be sweeping something, i mean make yourself a little more useful, a womans talent shouldn't be wasted by thinking and writing that is just liberal propoganda. Truly you belong on your back when you husbands home to reproduce more and more babies with the same mentality and take over these illuminati feminists. So stop writing and get to your real job cleaning cooking and baby making hurry up now the family awaits.

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  3. A woman can be as intelligent as a man the same way as a man can be as intelligent as a woman. A woman and a man can excel the same way when performing the same duty. Working on a similar project, finding or inventing a solution for an Engineering problem, even cooking. Or sewing (yes, a man can sew as well as a woman). Changing a diaper. Doing everything. Anything. But a man is always a man, a woman always a woman. At least this is how it's supposed to be, naturally, not as a rule imposed by anyone, as Nature is free and must remain as such, since the beginning of times. Therefore, a man should be allowed and reminded of its natural tendencies and importance of being a man, and the same should be applied to a woman. The different roles played by both are to be highly respected by each other, as both are complementing each other to form a unity. Both have something to gain, both have equal parts to give. This is how love happens to be and grow. This is what makes a woman and a man feel truly attractive as each feel truly desired and needed by each other. This is how Nature itself works. There can't be day if there is not night, in order for each to happen, both have to meet (dawn, dusk). If we observe the Nature attentively, we will find that there is so much we can learn with it!

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  5. JEAN BUSH says: dominika, I would gladly, but am past that age. You Femininist Nazi's are unable to intelligently articulate your views so must resort to name-calling and finger pointing. I would bet, dominika, that you have not been on your back with a decent man in a long time; feeling a little dried up, are we?

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  6. JEAN BUSH SAYS: By the way, dominika, you need to go back to grammer school and learn sentence structure and punctuation. Do you look this sloppy, too?

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  7. JEAN BUSH SAYS: Thank you, LaRoque, for your sweet and graceful comment. You do your sex proud.

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