Steinem and Syfers

In the first piece I read today, If Men Could Menstruate, Gloria Steinem talked about the theory of penis envy. She focused on the concept of menstruation and the reaction to this phenomenon if men were the ones who experienced this phenomenon. Her opinion was that if men were the ones in place of women, they would find a way to embrace menstruation and make it an enviable quality instead of a detestable one. "Menopause would be celebrated as a positive event, the symbol that men had accumulated enough years of cynical wisdom to need no more". Steinem also says that men would find a way to normalize the occurrence, or make it seem cool, and one man might say to another, "Yeah, man, I'm on the rag". The author goes on to talk about how periods make women behave most like men during that one week of the month. She then asks, if this is the case, why are women expected to be more rational and less emotional during the other three weeks? Why is this the norm for males but a surprising turn of character for females?

I then read Why I Want a Wife by Judy Syfers, in which the author described her views on the duties and responsibilities of a wife. Her piece basically listed every chore imaginable, and then a few more. Syfers, a housewife herself, provided an interesting viewpoint, as she was, in essence, reflecting on her own role within the household. One aspect of the piece I found particularly interesting was Syfers' use of the word wife. Wife could almost be substituted out and replaced by RobotModel 6000, and the meaning and message of the piece would still be intact. There was no intimacy with the word wife, no feeling. It was just wife this and wife that, for example when talking about wives from the viewpoint of men, the author says, "If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another." In this quote it is obvious that there is no personal element in marriage, and the speaker's reference to other wives is similar to an upgrade from the iPhone 3 to the new iPhone 4. My main issue with the piece is that it makes it seem as though men have unlimited needs and demands. Not all men want to view their wives as objects, and not all men want their wives to "type their papers after the men have written them". Also, not all women in 1971 would accept this kind of cold and lifeless treatment. I think the piece is summed up well when the author says, "My God, who wouldn't want a wife?". This statement perfectly embodies the idea that wives are desirable because of all they can do for a man, what they can give. This implies, however, that wives are easy to obtain. If a man wants a wife, he can have one, he can go out and get one. There is no choice on the female's side, it is just another manly desire that shall be fulfilled. This piece brings up a lot of controversy, but it is a very interesting view on the role of women in the household and the role of the wife through the eyes of her husband.