ReTRo HouSeWiFe

DEAR RETRO HOUSEWIFE

Confused

Slaves to Men, 2006-12-16

So do you ladies like being slaves to men? Or would you rather not work and be independent and know what it's like to actually earn money?
Elisa

RE: Slaves to Men

Dear Elisa,

I really wonder where you get the idea that we are slaves to men; I am going to take a wild guess and say that you are still fairly young and have not been married? In your 20s perhaps? I dare say I can't blame you for your silly comment because you have been brought up on the propaganda of "feminist" extremists. I should know, I bought into the scam myself when I was younger.

So, as for being slaves for men. Hmm. You take quite large leaps in logic, so it is really quite difficult to provide a meaningful answer to that one. I guess you mean that because I stay home and run the household and care for the members thereof that I am in fact enslaved. You ignore the fact that the man in the equation gets up everyday (rather a bit too early for my taste), puts on uncomfortable clothes, drives to work for 45 minutes each way and spends his day beholden to his employer, working to put money in his employer's pocket, so that he can support me, himself and our family. How is it that I am enslaved?

Every bit of work that I do directly benefits me and my family, so how is that inferior to running out and working for somebody else?

As for not wanting to work and be independent. I guess this is where I must repeat the tired old refrain about how much a housewife works, blah blah, etc. Let me give you the benefit of my insight and experience derived by having lived both lives, that of the "independent" (who are you trying to kid???) working woman and the "enslaved" housewife. I have plenty of education, I hold both BA and MS degrees and have had both very boring jobs and very interesting and challenging career jobs with lots of responsibility and for the most part a very respectable amount of money. It was all fine and dandy, I won't say it wasn't, but I certainly was not independent, and neither are you. I have much more freedom now than I ever did before, and I really have to say that the role of housewife requires a lot more knowledge and creativity than building financial models or writing those horrible memos or whatnot.

My job now can only be limited in scope by a lack of imagination and the restrictions of a finite life span. Perhaps it is easier for you to come to terms with your own need for regulation and routine by defining your scenario as free, and it is probably better that way since not everyone can handle setting their own goals and then having to manage their own time to achieve them. Not knowing what you do, it is hard for me to see where you are coming from, but I am fairly certain that I have the better deal.

RH

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