That’s like 2 decades of pushing out kids.
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.
That’s what happens when a wife is not allowed to say no and birth control doesn’t exist. Could also represent having sex only 15 times over 16 years and getting pregnant every time. My grandmother swore all my grandfather needed to do was look at her and she was pregnant yet again.
I love being childless.
*childfree!
I had the fortunate experience of growing up with great-grandparents living, as well as some of their siblings. I got to hear first-hand experiences from 3 generations of women (mother, grandmothers, and two great-grandmothers plus various aunts sprinkled in). It was invaluable for me. Knowing their life stories and the truth of what they endured has helped me navigate life in so many ways.
It also has been incredible armor against the flood of misplaced nostalgia and outright manipulation of history that seems so prevelant. My great-grandmother was born in 1908 and died in 2002. She left her abusive husband in the 1930s and raised her kids as a single mom in a time when it was exponentially more difficult to do so. Glad she got out when she did with 4 instead of 14…
When I hear of the women in the victorian times who worked as sex workers to get by, got hacked into pieces by Jack the Ripper and no one batted an eye when they heard a woman screaming as that’s just what London was like at the time…
… I know there’s a lot of unwritten history that wildly deviates from the conservative mindset, and always has.
If you’re interested, I highly recommend “The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper” by Hallie Rubenhold!
It’s not like either of them enjoyed it, especially after the fourth or fifth one.
I bet he enjoyed it more than her.
My dad is 70 and he was the youngest of 14 kids…
Before modern medicine, often people would have a ton of kids because they would frequently die.
Before modern medicine, often people would have a ton of kids because they would frequently die.
Before modern medicine, birth control and abortions were much harder to come by, too.
Also, women didn’t really get much of a say in the matter.
This is a really important factor here that it wasn’t exactly “Grandma’s” choosing (not to make the meme unfunny but…) Yeah, more often than not it was “Grandpa” with no choice in the matter.
It’s ok to not laugh at a meme like this.
God forbid you point that out though, there’s a bunch of people who think this was all consensual.
Rather than attributing this to the lack of modern medicine, I would attribute this to the lack of television and the internet. 🤣
Grandma, you know better. Everyone was just as horny and kinky back then as they are today. You’re STILL horny and kinky Grandma!
I’m convinced that’s why “wash behind your ears” was such a big deal. It feels great getting kissed/licked there, and no one wants to do that if you’re gross.
You might be right!
They needed workers. Not pictured is the shallow grave out back for the 4 that got the rickets
Oh wow, you dug a grave? Look at mister “thinks he’s better than everybody else because he owns enough land to bury people”. Why don’t you just tie em up in a sack and toss em in the river like the rest of us?
It’s a very suspicious ratio of pants to dresses
Young boys and girls used to wear the same outfits and they were passed down. Look closely at the photo.
And the “orphan train” already passed by, so it’s not pictured either. Or the “for sale” signs when the children became too many. But the chimney sweep kids are “living it up”, as they’re learning an important trade!
But the chimney sweep kids are “living it up”, as they’re learning an important trade!
The cancers those chimney sweep kids got were horrific. Last Podcast on the Left recently did a deep dive into chimney sweeps and it was eye-opening. Highly recommend listening if you’re into that kind of thing.
I was just recommending a podcast episode lol
Chim, chimney
Chim, chimney
Chim, chim, cher-ee
A sweep is full of cancer
As full of cancer as you can be.
if you’re into that kind of thing
Chimney sweeps, podcasts, cancer, or open eyes?
Learning more about fucked up things lol
Do you have a link to the podcast “the Left” or related doesn’t show clear results, thanks.
Oh yes! The show is called “The Last Podcast on the Left” and here’s a link
Ah material to drift off to sleep on to. 😄 - Some of them at least. Will give it a go!
I don’t listen to much true crime anymore, but these guys stole my heart haha
Sorry, sorry… that was sarcasm. It was mostly slavery of orphans, guised as trade-skills. As well as the cancers, they also had hellish injury/death, because ya know… 7 year olds are climbing chimneys
“Put their feet to the fire”… sometimes kids were too afraid to keep climbing, so they lit a fire under them. Sometimes, they became too grown and got stuck in the chimney, possibly dying. Hellish
I wasn’t correcting you, I just have ADHD and saw your line about chimney sweeps which reminded me of that podcast episode so I recommended it hahaha
I’m sorry I didn’t make it clear that I was just conversing with you.
I don’t think most women wanted to be pregnant back to back like that then.
My grandmother had 16 children. It destroyed her.
Yeah definitely the elephant in the room when this comes up. Women didn’t have a choice and they were impregnated over and over even if it killed them.
I’m a tenth child and my mom did it of her own volition. It was like being a dog that nobody wanted to take care of.
I’m sorry you were forced to be in that position.
My dad was number 14. He was once asked for advice by a man who had several children already and wanted more. My dad’s advice?
“Stop.”
My dad went on to explain that this guy was already neglecting his current children and that it was abuse to continue. Because there simply isn’t enough time and resources available.
My oldest sister wanted to do the same. My brother in law got a vasectomy in secret after the 7th. Everything your dad said is exactly true.
Edit: I don’t mean to imply that some women aren’t forced into the position of having more kids than they want. But usually having a lot of kids requires two mentally unwell religious fundamentalists.
Oh you’re totally right that there’s people who willingly do this as well! Thankfully we have more choices when it comes to how many children we want these days.
Maybe it’s just cuz I’ve got a neurospicy bean who is AuDHD and PDA af, but I do not understand how people can have more than a couple kids. Hell, my wife is the oldest of 5 and it’s crazy how much abuse I now see they all endured (both neglect and actual SA abuse of the youngest ones that wasn’t brought to light until a few years ago).
often it’s just the lack of contraception and/or appropriate education.
No, some people get a thrill out of the power of making more people, of having a huge family, even if they don’t take good care of them.
I personally don’t get it. But I have a friend who is a really incompetent person - when we hang out, we have to make extra sure she doesn’t do dangerous things like she is a child. She is a sweet person, but very oblivious in a way that is hard to put a pin on. She is married, and her husband takes care of her and has always seemed to kind of like the responsibility. To each their own. But they now have 2 kids and he is completely overwhelmed. But she wants more and keeps talking about trying to talk him into it or ‘oops’ getting pregnant again in a few years. We all yell at her when she says stuff like that.
It is the perfect flip-flop of the usual gender roles - where Dad has all the responsibility and doesn’t want more, and Mom just sees it as some kind of power trip about her self image and is oblivious or just doesn’t care that it would break her partner.
Right? I’ve got one kid and I’ve got my hands full! I can’t imagine having more kids than I wanted because of lack of access to contraception. Sounds like a nightmare.
You see, it’s simple – once you’ve been going for 5 or 6 years, you make the older children take care of the younger ones. Parentification is fun and saves you lots of work!
The folks who have large numbers of kids typically start handing off childcare duties to the older ones as soon as they’re physically capable of doing those tasks. Especially the girls - usually these sorts of families don’t want boys doing child care unless there are no girls, but the boys start getting used for labor around the same age.
Yeah, I grew up catholic and that’s how the big families I knew were. You had kids who were largely raised by their big sisters raising the younger siblings… And no, they weren’t ok, they ranged from mad about it to excited to be the mom in such a dynamic
My eldest aunts ended up being pregnant the same time my grandmother was often.
There’s a lot of resentment and grudges in my family tree.
Sounds like there might be more grudges than branches.
Bro I’ve got my hands full with two cats.
My mother wanted two, got two at once, went “DONE NOW” and it was for the best.
My grandparents had 8 children. 7 came after everyone moved out and 8 came because they didn’t want 7 to be lonely.
Now double it for this woman and my grandmother. It’s insane.
The food bill for those kids today would be pretty close to the median gross income in USA.
Don’t worry, all those kids were being put to work to supplement the family income.
Good thing that the father has a stable job at the gas station to support his family.
Or they owned a farm, and 7 or 8 of those kids are already doing significant amounts of farm labor to earn their food. The economics of having tons of kids is radically different when they go from being a cost to a profit in 8ish years instead of from a cost to not a budget item in hopefully 22 if you’re lucky.
The US school calendar was based on the realities of this. So was the election schedule, voting on a Tuesday aligns neatly with the schedules of farmers bringing goods to the nearest town for market.
The US school calendar was based on the realities of this.
No it wasn’t. The US school calendar gives the biggest break times in the middle of summer and the middle of winter – two times when farmers are the least busy. School is fully in session during a farmer’s busiest times of spring planting and fall harvest.
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Bros gotta start pulling out
or butt-secks
Or maybe they could even consider taking a break from sex altogether
No
Government minder here wants more meat for the wars
If you teach women about their bodies and give them the choice, they will have fewer children.
This is why conservatives are anti-sex ed and anti-abortion.
True, but they also have more options for birth control. And a family needs two working parents to have a children nowadays as well.
Also, until recently, childhood vaccines prevented a lot of the deaths that made having tons of kids a necessity.
True, but they also have more options for birth control.
That’s the choice that yesman is talking about. Birth control and abortion.
Ah, I was thinking more along the lines of emancipation
God that poor woman. That’s so many kids.
Her husband forced himself on her while she was still recovering from birth. There’s no way there were so many children so close without that happening.
Y’all can disagree with me, but I’m right. There’s no way this particular woman could’ve healed from birth enough to safely get pregnant again that many times. Marital rape wasn’t even against the law back then. It was normalized.
Sex would not have been enjoyable for her immediately after birth.
You’re most likely right. Though, she is holding twins in the picture I think. Depending on genetics, it’s possible that a few of the other siblings are also twins. But that’s still a hell of a lot of pregnancies, and twin pregnancies are generally harder and riskier than singles, so… yeah that’s not really any consolation.
Damn, the amount of people here who don’t understand where the phrase “keep em barefoot and pregnant” comes from…
Literally “if you keep them pregnant constantly, they will have no need for shoes because they will never leave the home.”
There’s a lot of people who are uncomfortable with examining their long-held beliefs and biases.
Like that women like this wanted to have that many babies and that husbands have a right to sex with their wives no matter what.
~~You are most likely right, but given there are trad wife’s now adays, it isn’t impossible that some women wanted that. And unless there are more specific information from her family on her choices, chances are, we will never know. And as much as I don’t want to deny past sexual violence, I also don’t want to deny agency. ~~
After writing it I realize it is a shit opinion because even the most trad wifeliest today, with more resources and healthcare do not go for so many children. And I now agree with you fully.
My ex’s best friend is one of… 11? 12? I forgot. Probably more by now. Both parents of that family are weird but as far as I can tell it’s mostly the mom who wants more but… I’m not entirely sure if she actually wants more children or she just likes getting parental pay which is 18 months in this country. On 12 kids that’s 18 years that she hasn’t had to go to work. Don’t think the woman in the picture got 18 months
Not sure if she can stay employed so long. I am not sure if you can Irish twins your parental leave indefinitely,
I couldn’t imagine an employer paying her for 18 years of parental leave.
In Germany parental leave is paid by the state and you can receive it instead of unemployment money. Probably true for other countries as well.
Nice, sounds good.
Yeah it’s not even so much how many children she has here (even though that’s an issue all on it’s own obviously), it’s how close they are in age.
kind of both Irish twins are not rare among every society, but having to move my mouse pointer to count so many children so close together it.
Although I am willing to bet a photo with cousins too rather than just one set of siblings. because I don’t want to belief that said family is even possible.
My grandmother had 16 children. It’s very possible and way more common back then.
