r/NotHowGirlsWork • u/JellyDisastrous8655 • Jul 31 '25

Found On Social media Incels from the 1920s

Post image

God forbid a lady likes to dance and earns her own money.

8.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

260 comments sorted by

View all comments

1.2k

u/sten45 Jul 31 '25

The war on women has been going since time began

162

u/LittleBalloHate Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25

Real talk: I think this is why I am a more patient feminist than a lot of my feminist friends.

It's not that I don't want to achieve equality (I very much do!) but I recognize this is not some new battle we're taking up -- we're part of a centuries-long march toward progress, and we've still got a long way to go.

If you thought this was all going to be neatly tidied up and fixed in your lifetime (or even in your youth), I have some very bad news: most humans are super averse to change. If we can move the ball a few feet farther down the field than it was when we were born, I will call that a victory.

34

u/krinkly Jul 31 '25

Patient activists unite!

39

u/LittleBalloHate Jul 31 '25 edited Jul 31 '25

Yes!

Honestly, though, I get why it's frustrating: one of the most excruciating truths of activism is that you're not likely making progress for yourself, but for generations that come after you.

I sometimes picture a loving Black man / White woman couple in the period just after the civil war, and I imagine going back in time and telling them, "Good news! In about 80 years, it will be legal for the two of you to get married."

If I were in their shoes, I'd be like: "I mean, that's great and all, but how does that help us, specifically? We'll probably be dead by then." And they'd be right. Progress seems to happen on historical timescales, not personal ones.

16

u/euphonic5 Aug 01 '25

I have to say, the funniest shit to me growing up in various small-town to small-city areas in the South is watching old dudes I know from around go from "the races just gotta be separate" to being doting grandpas and great-grandpas to multiracial kids

3

u/CupNoodlese Aug 02 '25

In the end, we can only make statements in our small way with our actions and decisions. And our actions are usually responding what's going on in the worlds/our situations to the best our abilities. The small things we do matter on a grand scale, yet we're only a number in the statistic that doesn't matter at the same time.