I Want A Wife By: Judy Brady (Emotion Vs Reality)

585 Words3 Pages
English 101-003 01 February 2011 Equality An Examination of Judy Brady’s “I Want a Wife” Judy Brady author of the above-mentioned essay was a married woman in the early 1960’s; she was part of the feminist movement. In this essay Brady exposes a stereotypical view that was directed toward females in a married relationship in the early 1960’s. Although, many women were conditioned to be this way, many viewed it as unfair and a discrimination that could not be tolerated. How does Brady bring this subject to view in a non-confrontational way? How does Brady over exaggerate her views? To start with, Brady takes this subject at hand in a very sensitive manner. During the 1960’s females were viewed as inferior to men, so raising touchy subjects such as a woman getting rights or developing into something other than a “house-wife” needed to be approached strategically. Brady approaches this subject by saying she “wants a wife” (179). Good wives were considered to cook, clean, take care of the children, and treat their husbands well. Such traits are still believed to be good to this day, but the problem is when these views get in the way of a woman’s goals to become something more than just a house-wife. Further, she goes to describe how degrading some of these comments are such as “I want a wife to pick up after me.” (180); “I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife’s duties.” (180). After reviewing just these few comments out of many I see that those statements are very degrading and narcissistic. This is no way to treat a woman that you are supposed to love; it sounds more like being a wife was more like being a slave in her viewpoint. I can sympathize with how she felt. Although, Brady exposes a sensitive matter, it seems to me she exaggerated a little. The purpose was to give the reader
Open Document