Itâs disturbing how often we go into the biographies of famous and revered men and find: he was a serial cheater; he was a sexual predator; he abused his wife and abandoned his children; or even simplyâhe never did an ounce of domestic labor, and relied on the servitude of the women around him to support his enlightened endeavors. These are kind of viewed as unfortunate blemishes on the oeuvre of an otherwise great manâŚâacceptable signs of wear,â so that we will still buy and endorse the product with no remorse. Now Iâm all for learning great lessons no matter where they come from, and for learning about any person who has changed history, but we as a culture are right to have started a movement toward using these menâs behaviors to shine a critical light on their work. We should think critically about how these menâs misogyny, interpersonal callousness, and entitlement constitutes a fundamental flaw in their understanding of reality, and therefore a fundamental flaw in their overall thought. And we should keep asserting that women are not cannon fodder for menâs glories, and that we should not have an automatic âacceptable casualtyâ perspective when it comes to women.
I recently learned that Vincent Van Gogh was feared by the women of his town ; he would sexually harass them, sexually assault them and even follow them home and get into their houses. Several of them testified to the police. He would also use prostituted women âonce every two weeksâ.
đ every man in history is trash.
or even simplyâhe never did an ounce of domestic labor, and relied on the servitude of the women around him to support his enlightened endeavors
This is one you find a lot when reading up on even modern male artists, animators, etc. and itâs even more sad when their partner was an artist, too, but you just, like, never hear about her because her career never went anywhere after she got married.
from Hayao Miyazakiâs Starting Point
How many more women has this happened too besides just Miyazakiâs wife? Wanting to continue on with their career after children, their husband / boyfriend / father of her children promising heâd support her continuing to pursue her career, then she gets pressured by her family and society into making career sacrifices or giving up her career entirely to do childcare, while the father of her childrenâs career is allowed to flourish? How much does this contribute to the gender pay gap, to seeing more men in higher positions in most professions, to having more men in positions of authority?
Women supply the invisible labor that runs the world
âď¸ Women supply the invisible labor that runs the world
