Why I Want a Wife
Judy Brady’s “Why I want a Wife” reminds me of the late 1950’s – early 1960’s TV show “Leave it to Beaver". In this show, the script characterized the traditional American housewife as a supermom who was involved in every possible event while still maintaining all the ‘expectations’ of a housewife such as doing household chores, making the family dinner, and all around serving to the needs and arrangements of the husband and family while maintaining a ‘presentable’ appearance and attitude.
In the writing, Brady uses a sarcastic approach to breaking down her thesis that a typical stereotype of a ‘perfect wife’ exists. She explores this theory by making various ‘want’ statements of how a perfect wife should act. While Brady’s method is a little extreme, it does accurately display many of the stereotypical expectations bestowed on women (especially American women) through recent history.
Even though they exist from cultural history of a male dominated society, these gender requirements are not fair in that they imply a double standard that favors the husband over the wife.
As for accepting the standards set by society today, we need to realize that there has been a radical recent shift in stereotypes in that there is no longer a typical ‘man’ or ‘woman’. Whether socially, legally, or politically there is more awareness on uniqueness both in gender and personalities. Even so, there is still a double standard per se in society that continues to favor men over everyone else. Yet there are examples where even ‘outcasts’ are being accepted by society as normal. Trans gender and no gender individuals were once unheard of, and while still stereotypes, are beginning to experience more public awareness and acceptance in certain cultures.
There are so many stereotypes that exist and can exist that I don’t think a person can avoid being stereotyped. It is natural for the human mind and thus people to classify and characterize others based on what they observe.
In the writing, Brady uses a sarcastic approach to breaking down her thesis that a typical stereotype of a ‘perfect wife’ exists. She explores this theory by making various ‘want’ statements of how a perfect wife should act. While Brady’s method is a little extreme, it does accurately display many of the stereotypical expectations bestowed on women (especially American women) through recent history.
Even though they exist from cultural history of a male dominated society, these gender requirements are not fair in that they imply a double standard that favors the husband over the wife.
As for accepting the standards set by society today, we need to realize that there has been a radical recent shift in stereotypes in that there is no longer a typical ‘man’ or ‘woman’. Whether socially, legally, or politically there is more awareness on uniqueness both in gender and personalities. Even so, there is still a double standard per se in society that continues to favor men over everyone else. Yet there are examples where even ‘outcasts’ are being accepted by society as normal. Trans gender and no gender individuals were once unheard of, and while still stereotypes, are beginning to experience more public awareness and acceptance in certain cultures.
There are so many stereotypes that exist and can exist that I don’t think a person can avoid being stereotyped. It is natural for the human mind and thus people to classify and characterize others based on what they observe.