Trying To Do Everything At Once

does not work.

Modernity hasn't been really kind to women. In the ages past, they have been considered a "weaker vessel" and treated accordingly, as long as the family could afford it. (There is a reason women from impoverished backgrounds, like Charlotte Bronte, died young, while solid middle class ones like Mrs Charles Darwin, lived long and happily and produced numerous children well into their late forties).

Convinced by the #lying media of the mid-20th century that any sign of weakness was due to the patriarchal oppression by their own immediate kin which apparently hated them, unlike kindly strangers working for MSM, women started proving that they can have it all. And they kinda do  nowadays, but along the way, some things of value have been surely lost.

One of them is inner peace, or tranquility. Nearly 1 in 4 of American women is on antidepressants, while 60% of all women of reproductive age use anticonception, of which only 2% use fertility awareness (and 8% withdrawal). About 43% combined use the pill, iud or other hormonal methods, known for their side effects. (Here is a site which has a long discussion of the risks of an IUD and the pill). In my opinion, here is something seriously wrong with the society, where so many young adults are on some type of medication.

Women are constantly praised for multitasking, but the reality is that multitasking sucks doesn't work as intended. It basically means divided attention and no task done as it really should be. When you are at work, you aren't mothering your children. When you work part-time, especially with really short hours, you don't concentrate on your work and can't build any serious career. Having it all means that a woman comes from her work tired and then has to do at least some housekeeping. Feminists will say that the husband needs to pitch in, but he works, too, and is also tired.

This lifestyle leaves little time for rest, maintaining friendships, keeping in touch with extended family and pursuing creative hobbies.

Girls are pushed into spending hours studying and doing sports, which leaves half of them incontinent by the age of 23. In case you think it's limited only to top performers, here is an article which states that the same happens to women yoga instructors and Pilates teachers. It's almost like women were built for something else than constant stress and strenuous work/exercise, but we aren't allowed to entertain such thoughts nowadays. The author's solution is more "awareness" and physiotherapy.

It's no wonder that (some) women are choosing to run away  from the work world and seek refuge at home, but sometimes they fall into the same trap and try to juggle too many things at once, with the result that they are constantly exhausted. Unfortunately, there are few homemaking blogs which encourage women to take it easy and to have some leisure time, as opposed to trying to be a super housewife/mother/Proverbs 31 woman/whatever.  It may work for younger women for some time, but when you are older, you'll probably sacrifice your health trying to achieve the impossible ideal.

Someone once linked to a 19th century woman's diary, trying to prove that modern women have it so much easier. I went and read it. The entries went along the lines of: "It was so cold and dark today that I did little else but cuddle by the fire with the baby. Yesterday Mother came to visit. Today I spent most of my time sewing (not really a physically active job)" etc etc. I didn't notice any particular exertions, outside of visiting Mother and Auntie sometimes and cooking dinner. She also had other children who went to school btw, and all by themselves. Yes, sometimes they had to wash in a washtub, and that was it (keeping in mind that in most families children were allowed 1 outfit per week).

Somewhere until the 1960s and even later in some countries, anyone who could afford it, had domestic help. Those who couldn't, trained their kids to do the majority of housework. That included doing the family laundry before school as my mother-in-law at the age of 12 and cooking family breakfast as her sister at about the same age. The idea of a superwoman with one hand plowing the fields while rocking the cradle with the other is just as much a myth as women warriors.

Of course, there are exceptions. There always are. Yet I'm convinced that modern lifestyle is unnatural and detrimental to many women's health in the long run. Those women have as much right to voice their concerns as their more robust sisters. And their voices shouldn't be silenced. We should stop being ashamed of femininity and being different from men.