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by JetSpiegel 221 days ago
If her job is so worthless, why not go without and accept the (by definition) small diminishing utility.

This is false, having a clean house, clean dishes, cooked food is extremely valuable, but this is mot captured by money, because half of the population were basically indentured servants that were culturally expected to provide this work for free.
1 comments
wtcactus 220 days ago
It wasn't for free. It was their work. Which, on average and until very recently, was much, much safer, and easier to do than the work of the other half of the population that had to leave the house and seek work to get a pay and allow the that half to stay at home.
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JetSpiegel 219 days ago
That "on average" is load bearing, does it include Queen Victoria? Just like ICE "allows" people to stay at Aligator Alcatraz. They should be paying rent!

Of course, the indentured servants payed rent in kind, with their bodies, whether they like it or not.

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JetSpiegel 219 days ago
> It wasn't for free

Say whaat? The woman's father literally paid good money to have her taken away. Everyone but the woman saw cash changing hands, but she was legally barred from owning property.

Freedom was for men.

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wtcactus 219 days ago
Indulging for a moment that fantasy of yours about the purpose of dowries:

If the present “owner” paid “good money” to take her away, doesn’t that mean she was a liability instead of an asset?

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