The only difference between a man and a woman is the “wo”

This week I can honestly say that for the first time I agree with some of the essays that we read. I know I know; usually our daily assigned essays/stories/novel readings are filled with overly analytical scholarly writers who evaluate, investigate, and scrutinize in-depth topics to end. However, I am not saying that this week is any different. What I am saying is that I usually find these writers, Sontag to name one, annoying, boring, uninteresting, and above all I almost always disagree with their obvious message or the seemingly more usual hidden message. But this week is different! Despite some of the sexist remarks and exaggerated, and at times unfair, claims, I can unexpectedly pronounce that I agree with Sontag, Prager, etc.

Personally, I concluded that the main idea of these essays to be that men and women are fundamentally different. However, what is not self-evident is the differing underlying message of each author. For example, Prager seemed to suggest that men place high importance on woman’s looks and in particular the chest reason which is probably a fair assumption. However, Prager continues her essay by addressing the fact that Ken had no genitals-a keen, yet strange observation. But instead of ignoring this anomaly, Prager probes the topic even deeper as she mentions how ominous she feels and how uncomfortable she knows the fact that Barbie could never make love to Ken. I believe that there contains some sarcasm in this particular passage, but there is a strong possibility that Prager as actually serious in her uneasiness.

Judy Brady’s “I Want a Wife” was definitely the most entertaining essay to read this week, but I suppose that is not saying much. I found this piece somewhat comical because there contains a fair amount of truth in Brady’s message: wives are essentially their spouse’s servants. Brady discusses how the wife is expected to cook, clean, listen to her husband, satisfy his needs when he desires it, and basically live the rest of her life as a robot with no desire to have any fun whatsoever. Of course now, the stereotypical wife is becoming less and less normal, and conversely a man taking care of the house and children is almost no longer an anomaly. However, this essay was written in the 1970’s, so it is almost fair to say that wives were probably expected to do a lot of these things. What keeps this essay from being fair is the when Brady says that the wife should never complain to her spouse, and the wife should only talk about things that interest the husband, and the wife should carry a job as well as the taking care of the house. Now, I did not live in the 1970’s nor do I have or am or ever have been a wife, but it seems unreasonable to conclude that husband’s expected complete obedience out of his wife. I am pretty sure the suicide rate would have been doubled if women were pressured to act as a slave.