"The truth is, for most of human history, women have been devising ways
to pull men away from individualism and into family and community. This
is an absolute priority for women when children come along – men are
needed to protect and provide. The reality is men can get along pretty
well on their own, and that is as true now as it ever was."
Laura Perrins
Perhaps it is no surprise that prominent men during the Enlightenment advocated personal liberty and turned it into an attractive philosophy. It is natural, though perhaps ironic, that women came to demand liberty too, further freeing men from the constraints and responsibility of family-centred culture. Women demanded the freedom to have sex whenever they wanted without the social tutting, and demanded the right to raise children alone without the social shame. This too has suited men who get to have it both ways and who no longer feel the social pressure to 'settle down' and 'do the right thing'. The State has taken over the position of providing for women now, but that is so impersonal and disatisfying that women are perhaps beginning to feel the loss.
Women get to do well out of classical liberalism and feminism - provided they live like men.
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