Being fair to women back then, most of them didn’t know how sex and babies worked, lacked any sort of formal education besides knowing how to read and write, and were raised that disagreeing with your husband or saying no to him in the bedroom was how to wind up an old spinster, the worst fate for any woman.
“Honey, if I knew what was causing it, I would never have had more than two.”
She lived on the farm, but she didn’t work it; that’s what the male children were for. Her “place” was in the house.
She told me she would ask sometimes, but all anybody would ever tell her was some variation of, “Birds fly. Fish swim. Women have babies. That’s just what they do/That’s just the way it is.”
She finally found out from her doctor while discussing her hysterectomy, but only after confirming her husband was already dead.
Not until after menopause. She was born in the rural US American south some time in the 1920s (the date is known, I just forget). She grew up during the great depression, never went to school, only knew what she learned from her mother, who lived the same way, and only socialized with other women at church, who also lived and grew up the same way. She could read and count well enough to follow a recipe and write enough to leave her husband a note, but that was about it. She was raised to believe that if she said no to her husband in the bedroom, he would divorce her, word would spread around town that she wasn’t a “good woman” and she would end up an old spinster, the worst thing a woman could possibly be.
Being fair to women back then, most of them didn’t know how sex and babies worked, lacked any sort of formal education besides knowing how to read and write, and were raised that disagreeing with your husband or saying no to him in the bedroom was how to wind up an old spinster, the worst fate for any woman.
“Honey, if I knew what was causing it, I would never have had more than two.”
-My great grandma, mother of 12
They legitimately didn’t understand that sex resulted in pregnancy?
That seems unlikely to be true unless they were raised very religious and not in any proximity to farm animals or pets.
Religious, yes. But very much on a farm.
So she knew if the farm animals had sex they’d become pregnant?
She lived on the farm, but she didn’t work it; that’s what the male children were for. Her “place” was in the house.
She told me she would ask sometimes, but all anybody would ever tell her was some variation of, “Birds fly. Fish swim. Women have babies. That’s just what they do/That’s just the way it is.”
She finally found out from her doctor while discussing her hysterectomy, but only after confirming her husband was already dead.
Not until after menopause. She was born in the rural US American south some time in the 1920s (the date is known, I just forget). She grew up during the great depression, never went to school, only knew what she learned from her mother, who lived the same way, and only socialized with other women at church, who also lived and grew up the same way. She could read and count well enough to follow a recipe and write enough to leave her husband a note, but that was about it. She was raised to believe that if she said no to her husband in the bedroom, he would divorce her, word would spread around town that she wasn’t a “good woman” and she would end up an old spinster, the worst thing a woman could possibly be.