Life Before Feminism: “It’s a shame to whip your wife on Sunday.”
I have a certain fondness for old-timey hillbilly music, the kind of stuff you can find on any number of great compilations on Yazoo records. But sometimes, alas, the lyrics to the songs reflect some old-timey bigotries that are much less charming than the music itself. Poking around on YouTube earlier today looking for the stuff I ran across this little ditty:
The lyrics:
Well, it’s a shame to whip your wife on Sunday.
Yes, it’s a shame to whip your wife on Sunday.
When you’ve got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
It’s a shame to whip your wife on Sunday.
It’s a shame to get drunk on Sunday.
Yes, it’s a shame to get drunk on Sunday.
When you’ve got Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
It’s a shame to get drunk on Sunday.
Pity about the lyrics, because it’s got such a nice little banjo riff.
Cleanse your ears out with this song, a perky little number called “Hallelujah to the Lamb,” that I think would leave even Satan himself tapping his cloven hooves.
Posted on November 29, 2011, in life before feminism, misogyny, music, reactionary bullshit, that's not funny!, violence against men/women. Bookmark the permalink. 78 Comments.
it is always adorable when someone uses ‘you know a lot of words’ as an insult.
“lately I’ve been having a hell of a time skimming through the other thread – the one where no trolls showed up, so you all turned on each other.”
See I’m glad you brought this up, because I’ve been meaning to go on a rant about this little unwinnable situation.
If feminists* agree with each other, they get accused of being an echo chamber or a hive mind. If feminists disagree with each other they get accused of turning on their own and being hostile. Fuck that shit and fuck you for trying it on.
*I’ve seen the same no-win situation forced onto atheists so it’s not exclusively a feminist thing.
Actually I’d say that the fact that MRAs usually refuse to disagree with each other is far more of a flaw than lots of arguing.
But the interesting thing about the Robert Johnson song (that was me; hi) is how self-conscious it is: in attributing his desire to commit DV to demonic influence, the speaker implies that he knows that this isn’t the right way to behave.
I find the same sort of knowing darkness in a lot of Johnson’s songs, as opposed to a song like this, which takes a much more “naive” standpoint:
The third verse takes violence absolutely for granted in a way that Johnson’s “artier” song doesn’t. I know Johnson wrote a lot of the songs he sang, but I don’t know whether or not he wrote “Me and the Devil Blues.” It wouldn’t surprise me, though, since it’s so much more introspective than a lot of folk music.
Remember when DKM and Brandon were posting in the same thread, each advocating ideal worlds that the other completely disagreed with, yet they never acknowledged each other? Yeah, that is a sign of some robust discourse right there.
Meller owes me a new cute cream cableknit, this one is covered with orange juice. “Ally?”
News flash: domestic violence happened in whatever your ideal era was, too (some sort of magical 1950-meets-1830 type of situation?) Victims just didn’t have the same chances to speak out.
Zhinxy, I’m so sorry you had to experience that. I applaud your bravery in mentioning it in a space where idiots are free to tell you that you either deserved it, or it didn’t happen at all.
Quoted for truth.
Note that none of our usual trolls had the stones to step in that thread.
MRAL did, right before it got shut down. Total vapidity, as usual.