An Essay on Female Roles in Society
Wife or Slave?: An Essay on Female Roles in Society
“Do you woman, take this man, to become his concubine, to pamper and slave over, through sickness and in health, now and forever, till he decides to replace you…?” With vows as “tempting” as these being presented at the altar, surely females would jump at the chance to be married, right? Men, as well as women, have requests of their significant others, some requests are expected, others slightly selfish. An agreement is eventually reached, or tension mounts between the two. There are always small percentages of males that exhibit the characteristics of the common caveman…always wanting, but never giving. Ironically enough, there’s always that same percentage of women that accept the ways of the caveman…waiting, hand and foot, on the male with no hope of equality. Despite the thoughts displayed in Judy Brady’s “I Want a Wife,” the typical male isn’t searching for a mate to subjugate over. He is searching for someone to compromise with, to receive from and to give to equally.
Brady, both a wife and a mother, hides behind her title as “feminist writer” to give her writings a somewhat harmless look about them. Unfortunately, her degradation of the opposite sex gives readers an unclouded view of her sexist attitude. To soften the blow against males she throws at her readers, she takes the liberty of taking on a male role. With this, she accomplishes her ulterior motives. First, she implicitly attacks males, not openly so that her readers won’t immediately tag her as the bad guy. This makes her accusations and insinuations seem like a harmless show of opinion. Second, she speaks from our point of view as a subtle way of mocking us. She makes us out to be little boys, helpless and overly demanding to women, even uneducated. “I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself, and, if need be, support those dependent on me” (Brady 274). Honestly, there are men that want their wives to do most of the work in the house, both his and hers; that can’t be denied. To say that males want their wives to pay for their schooling is ludicrous. As if a male being helpless dependants wasn’t enough, Brady also makes males out to be insensitive and uncaring to the feelings of their wives. Most males...