Bourgeois Feminism Is A Feminism That Demands Nothing Of Men

whifferdills:

lilitharcane:

misscherrylikesthediscourse:

thepeacockangel:

fairytalecyborg:

thepeacockangel:

thepeacockangel:

Did you know that as more married upper class and upper middle class women became employed during the 70s there was a dramatic uptick in demand for domestic labor?

They do not demand their husbands pick up the slack when they enter the workforce, instead building their “liberation” on the backs of working class women, usually working class WOC.

As well 19th century Bourgeois feminists were only horrified by working class sex workers because sex work was easier and paid better than being a scullery maid, thus making it harder and more expensive to get domestic labor.  They set up caring courses (read: Training and recruitment courses for domestic laborers) and crusaded against sex workers to make sure their supply of domestic labor was unthreatened.  

You’ll note bourgeois feminists never demonize or rail against domestic labor the way they rail against sexual labor.  This is because they have no use for sex workers and all the use in the world for domestic workers.

Here’s a source on the growth of domestic labor demand

Source on sex work in the 19th century

If you’re rich and hire domestic labour “because you can”, then fuck you and your bourgeois ass. But fellow leftists, let’s remember that some people actually need domestic labour, and erasing that can be very ableist.

Was not erasing that, TBH I have executive dysfunction issues that make domestic work really hard for me (but cannot afford the help I need, because society is terrible) but also if you’re bougie, not consuming domestic labor isn’t really more ethical, the closest thing to ethical you can do is pay someone and be as understanding and undemanding as possible

As long as these people still need to survive, it’s not actually helpful to NOT hire domestic labour even though you have the cash.
It’s important to treat them fairly, have very reasonable explanations and pay them well, just like in other professions. Cleaning is a low entry level job, a lot of undocumented people do it, we need to pay these people what they deserve so they don’t work themselves to death and make sure they can do their job as safely as possible, like taking appropriate breaks, not using dangerous chemicals, using gloves.
I also have mental illness and trauma issues and health issues that make cleaning very hard for me and when I could afford it I payed a cleaner, I don’t think that’s intrinsically wrong or bourgeois.

If I could afford it, I’d have domestic labor. My physical illnesses make it HARD to clean. I agree with TPA and MCLTD

tbh – if you want to hire a cleaning service for any reason at all and you can afford it, do it. it’s a job that people do. and it’s not a bad job unless the employers make it bad. do your research, pick a quality company, hire a cleaner to come in once a month, or whatever. you don’t have to whip out credentials to prove you Need it to not be complicit in 19th-century anti-sex-work crusading. you and your partner both work full-time and come home too exhausted to do much more than watch Netflix? your kids takin’ it outta ya and you want to remember life before everything was sticky and cluttered? shit, you just really, really hate cleaning? if you can afford it, hire a cleaner.

i’m kinda over the Capitalism Discourse that paints the working class as these helpless idiots working horrible demeaning jobs. are there some super-shit situations? absolutely. but across the board? i mean. comes down to it, the difference between a shit job and a good job is compensation and safety. i spent a couple hours last night washing dishes at a rich couple’s home for their swanky party, and i fucking loved it. the people were friendly, the money was great, and i take pride in the work that i do.

the solution to this isn’t ‘take away the jobs’ it’s ‘don’t fuck over the workers’. workers wanna work, we just don’t want to be treated like garbage for minimum wage.

I mean yeah until we can abolish capitalism and bosses, we know what decisions make sense for us.