Daly Life Of Daily Life

the reason why Victorians Thought The Way They Did about Sex and A Woman's Place has its roots in economics, specifically, the effect the Industrial Revolution had on women's economic labor, and as such WAS A PRODUCT OF ITS PLACE AND TIME and cannot be extrapolated backwards, or sideways onto other cultures

prior to the Industrial Revolution, there were, essentially, two functioning economies (caveat that everything I'm going to say applies to Europe and European-descended cultures and I in no way am meaning these to be universal statements): the male economy and the female economy. Men's economic work was primarily conducted outside the home and was more often exchanged for currency; women's economic work was primarily conducted inside the home and was more often exchanged for goods and services, but it was nevertheless economic work that was, most of the time, absolutely vital to the survival of the household (for a good example of the early modern American female economic world, see: A Midwife's Tale, the Life of Martha Ballard, by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich)

it was also, in large part, based on things like textile production that were very quickly mechanized during the Industrial Revolution. thereby removing women from participation in the economy (at least if you were rich enough to stay out of the factories).

with minimal economic activity left, there needed to be a new role for (wealthier) women, and the Victorian ideal of "the moral center of the home" was born. add that to what has been referred to as the "desperate insecurity of empire" and you have a new era of sexual repression that really, really did not exist before

women's independence has always been tied to women's economic power, that is, the relative value of "women's work" in society (for another example, see the discussion of Egyptian women's independence related to their Greek counterparts in the Classical era as related to the relative value of textile production between the two societies, in Women's Work: the First 2,000 Years by Elizabeth Wayland Barber)

the thing is that the nobility of medieval Europe had two jobs: war, and land management. the men spent a LOT of time doing the first. who do you think was doing the second?

the best thing a medieval noble or gentleman could do was marry a woman with a practical disposition and a good head for numbers. someone had to make sure no one starved during the winter while the men were off sticking each other with sharp things.

Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies cut funding to disease prevention and control.

Why is measles back in America?

Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including RFK Jr, cut vaccine and measles prevention funding and programs.

Why is the New World Screwworm infecting cattle in Texas, when it had previously been eliminated from the area?

Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including Elon Musk, cut USAID funding, which in part worked to monitor and prevent screwworm outbreaks.

Why was there a flu outbreak in our armed forces?

Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including Pete Hegseth, cut vaccination requirements for our armed forces, putting all of them at risk alongside our military readiness.

What contributed to the Covid outbreak?

Donald Trump and his Republican allies cut funding to a pandemic prevention program in his first term because Barack Obama had created it.

but FYI, here in my own post:

spray sunscreens don't work very well

neither do (most) sunscreen sticks

in general, michelle wong (a.k.a. lab muffin beauty science), a chemistry PhD who is very passionate about sunscreen and spends a lot of time debunking sunscreen misinformation, is a useful resource for learning about sunscreen! both the above links go to videos she made. here is another: many many sunscreen questions answered

The age of eligibility for an ABLE account, allowing USAmerican disabled people to save up money without losing their government assistance for having “too much,” is going to go up to cover disabilities diagnosed by age 46 (currently it’s age 26), meaning a much larger number of people will be able to access them. As the article notes, many Americans don’t know these accounts exist, let alone whether they or someone they care for could qualify for one, so please share this information around.