Social history is important & the most interesting to me. If ppl knew more of it, they wouldn't have such a flawed 'big picture'.
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Whether its the late medieval Catholic church or women's status, you get a very different picture if you look at how lives were affected.
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Than if you're looking at papal bulls & significant documents or laws.This tells us more about humanity which is the point of the humanities
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One thing it's important to remember re: gender relations throughout history is most men & women lived v close together in very small spaces
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It was Isobel Davis in 'Negotiating Patriarchy' I think who pointed out just how significant this was.
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If you spend much time in one room with someone you have to stay with the rest of ur life, this is much more pleasant if they're happy.
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Which sounds cynical but really lives were tied together so much more than they are now. You knew each other very well. Limited escapism.
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Divorce was not an option & you can't go off & play video games leaving your wife watching TV in bed whilst on social media.
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And utterly dependent on each other in a way we're not now. Housewifery really was a full time job just to have food & clothes.
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So you knew each other very well & apart from natural human empathy, love & compassion, much motivation to keep each other happy.
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So ppl who look back & see men had power to control almost everything their wives did & assume they'd have done that selfishly see it wrong.
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Obviously if a man was a bastard & happy to live with a miserable, cowed slave, his wife had very little recourse. Laws needed changing.
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But mostly ppl had to get through lives which were hard and they had to do it together & they felt love & loyalty & commitment.
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And this worked out with varying degrees of success & there was community justice & strong expectations of not being a complete arsehole.
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In communities where everyone was very close together, indications that one spouse was not caring for the other wld bring strong disapproval
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