When I was very young, I was scared of men, because I was terrified that I'd marry someone and he'd turn out to be as much of a b*stard as my father was.
When I was very young, I was actually fairly good-looking (so don't spring the excuse of "unattractive" as a reason why I was sympathetic to feminism). However, I was also over six feet tall, I didn't get much attention from males in high school, and it didn't take me very long to realize that most men prefer their women smaller, and in fact a lot of men prefer their women tiny and, yes, some of them DO like their women dumb and helpless. I'm not either dumb or helpless.
I also didn't think I'd be very happy being a totally at-home wife and mother. I don't like housework, except for cooking and eating food... and I don't like being someone else's maid. I also didn't think I had a huge amount of patience for dealing with small children; I also didn't like children all that much.
I didn't want to depend on a man for my livelihood, because I could see that some men resented supporting their wives and families (not just my father). I've known more than one woman, besides my mother, who was dumped or widowed in her forties or fifties, without any job skills, and I was bound and determined not to be in that situation... so I got job skills.
I have always thought it extremely stupid and unrealistic to raise a female child with the expectation that someone else will always provide for her, and that she need never bother her pretty little head with such a thing as job skills... even if the guy loves you, is devoted, and never leaves her, he could still walk out the door tomorrow and be hit by a truck.
I'm a wife and mother and now a grandmother and I wouldn't trade it for all the money in the world. It's one of the most rewarding jobs in the world. Payment is love with raises coming in the form of children, grandchildren and a husband who loves and respects me and we are growing old together loving and caring for each other. Show me something better than that.
That's all very nice that it turned out that way for you. But it's also good to live in the modern world in a Western nation, where I can choose other things if that's what I want. I hope you do realize that not all women in the world want what you had. There is no way to know whether I would have found your situation nirvana... but I suspect that I would not have been that happy with it, given what I grew up with.
I did briefly date someone who went on to become a famous and wealthy neurosurgeon and businessman... maybe it would have been a good thing had our relationship led to the altar. But the guy is so busy that his wife and kids have to make an appointment with him for any attention.
Anyway, it's MOOT at this point in my life. As far as I can tell, time only flows one way.
I am not trashing your way of life; I am simply saying that I don't think I would have been happy doing it. So please don't trash my way of life.
I remember reading a book about Mary Wollstonecraft, she who wrote "Vindication of the Rights of Women." In her day (the 18th century), there truly were very few options for women... either marry someone with enough money to support you, become a nanny or a caretaker to a family, become a nun (depending on your religion), or become a prostitute. That was about it.
Wollstonecraft found that a lot of men in her day didn't like women with brains; the man she lusted after was married to a bimbo. She also died a few days after the birth of her last child.
So please pardon me if I prefer a different lifestyle than you. In my view, women are good for more than just one thing.
Note to self: S/B "Vindication of the Rights of Woman." That's what I get for posting in the middle of the night.