Over at Cracked David Reidy and Paige Turner took a look at some surprisingly progressive positions that pirates used to hold:

• In a time when the germ theory of disease hadn’t been discovered at least one pirate offered his crew an advanced healthcare plan. Pirates who were wounded in battle could expect up to $153,000 – in cash or slave equivalents.
• Despite women still being considered property at the time, pirate ships were comfortable with having female pirates perform all the same duties as male ones. In some cases women even became pirate captains.
• Pirate ships also worked on democratic principles which required the crew to vote to elect the captain of the ship. This was around the time when less than 3% of England’s population was allowed to vote.

Read more about the pirates’ religious tolerance, gay marriage, and more over here.

Source: Cracked