To find this fb poem awful.

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Several friends are sharing this and I feel really uncomfortable with it. Any thoughts?

YANBU, 'The wife was content with her lot' is the most offensive line to me, total bollox but annoying still.

"and I feel really uncomfortable with it"

I think you are overthinking it. I was born at the end of the 1950s and the poem is of its time. Thank goodness we have moved on from then.

Just delete it from your page.

A vintage style clothing company I follow on FB posted this a few months ago.

I was horrified and I messaged them to complain. They emailed back with an "oh but we just thought it was kind of cute" type response at which point I got a little ranty on the subject of selling historical dresses but not knowing any history.

To be fair they apologised nicely and took it down.

This again. There was a thread about this making the same observations a few months ago.

I remember vividly "We at what was put on the table". I was at a boarding school where the food was pretty terrible, and we had to eat everything. To this day meat with gristle on makes me gag.

As for little children playing happily in the road - yes, until that nice Miss Hindley and her boyfriend came along.

Living up to your user name there Grumpy

So what if there was a thread a few months ago ? I don't live on MN so missed it. I imagine quite a few others did too.

I wouldn't say my gran was contented with her lot. She was in the forces in WW2, but the second the war was over she was told in no uncertain terms by her father, that she was to come home to her factory job until they managed to marry her off to a distant cousin. She had no choice in the matter, even though it was the last thing she wanted. She was that miserable and trapped, she began drinking and became violent and abusive to her DC and husband. Happy times eh

I find people that post this type of shite on FB have fuck all idea of the reality of being a 30's/40's/50's housewife. Bet they never surveyed any before they wrote that, cos they certainly wouldn't be claiming they were all contented if they had.

There was a Facebook post not so long ago about how women should be a domestic goddess and be a whore in the bedroom (I'm Paraphrasing) and always please your man- and that if this was old fashioned then they don't care.

I laughed at the post because it was ridiculous but the comments made me seethe. It's this kind of attitude that puts women's rights back decades and should be challenged EVERY TIME.

Oh to go back to those time, times when sexism and racism was rife
and it was legal to beat your wife

Children may have seemed 'seldom unhappy'
But were largely ignored
Too scared to speak up about anything
For fear of being beaten by the jug cord

Women may not have been happy 'with their lot'
Valium addiction, alcohism and depression stats
Show their happiness to most meant not one jot

Why would a woman post this kind of crap on fb???
Women can be a SAHM if it's a pragmatic choice for their families, but they don't need to post things suggesting the patriarchalism is the model for society!! This is awful!!!!!

As if women were so happy and contented with that life . I hate the way people look back at the past with rose tinted specs. That entire poem misses out the parts where kids were getting whipped by teachers, wives were beaten and raped and it was accepted, married women weren't really allowed a life outside of the family home, abortion was illegal, homosexuality was illegal, if a woman was raped it was her own fault for being a slag etc etc. We think it's a man's world now, back then women didn't even have the slightest look in. We were their lowly baby makers and maids.

The 'good old days' eh

Tell her that if she really wants to be a 1950,s housewife and live in the past, she shouldn't get distracted from her house chores to be on Fb

I love the fact that there is a poem which starts with "I remember the corned beef of my childhood"

You're not overthinking it. If people repost shit without understanding it then they shouldnt expect to get a pat on the back for it.

Ok fine the poem is bollocks but....

It seems awful to just think women were happier not working

I'm a stay at home mum who doesn't work and I love that I'm able to be, I wouldn't change it for anything!

I'm a stay at home mum who doesn't work and I love that I'm able to be, I wouldn't change it for anything!

yes but you probably wouldn't love that if you had no choice about it- if you had to give up your job when you married (not when you had children) simply because you were married which is what happened to many women in the 1950s (including my mother in 1958).

Maybe I could get my dad to write one about his childhood in 40s/50s...
"My dad was a violent alcoholic, my mother could barely cope, dad spent mum's money on booze, so we were permanently broke".

fbollocksexit.

Urgh yanbu, horrible that is.

It's a load of crap.

I do like corned beef though. Remember in the early 80s when you couldn't get it because of the Falklands war?
-misses point-

I do find it quite offensive actually.

Various relatives of mine had eating disorders, and mental health problems in the mid last century. They just 'suffered with their nerves'. Mother's little helper anyone?

My own mother was very much not happy with her lot, until the 80s when she got a job and left my father.

canyouforgiveher I understand that and agree with you, it's having choice. I choose to be at home and am happy, but if I wasn't happy I could easily shove the kids in daycare and go back to work, our grandmothers didn't have this choice. I also agree not all women in any era were happy to be told what they had to do! What I didn't like was op stating she felt it awful that women could be happy not working! Maybe I took it too literal, but just because one woman isn't happy in the home, doesn't mean another isn't!

I wasn't saying that! I'm mainly a sahm myself and love that I've got the choice.

I was reacting to the thought that if we just went back to when women were forced to stay home they would all be happy.

Far too simplistic, as above if that solved everything what about domestic violence, marital rape, etc.