• kromem@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    There’s an ancient Greek story about a city where young women were killing themselves at an alarming rate, and the city eventually enacted a law where if a woman killed herself the body would be paraded through the streets naked before burial. After that law, the suicides dramatically went down.

    The misogynistic interpretation of the author recording the story was that women were ashamed at the thought of being seen naked, even after death, and so this curbed the suicides.

    My own interpretation is that it’s hard to hide bruises on a naked body.

    No one should be trapped in a situation where they feel the only option out is suicide.

    • masquenox@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      My own interpretation is that it’s hard to hide bruises on a naked body.

      Considering that the ancient Greeks literally allowed men to murder their wives under certain conditions, I’d say that seeing bruises on a woman’s body would elicit no outcry amongst them.

      Also… fuck ancient Greece. And fuck the Roman empire, too.

      • Wogi@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I was curious so I did a tiny amount of research and as it turns out, you’re pretty much in line with the data.

        Information on ancient Greeks beating their wives is pretty sparse and what little we have suggests that it was so common that it barely deserved mention.

        Beat their wives, fucked their kids, and gave rise to the society we’ve inherited today.

        Persia should have one at Thermopylae

      • Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Yeah this was more about the dudes not wanting anyone to see their women naked…dead or not.