Wifely submission is risky business in the 1990s. Gone is the day when a wife could depend on her husband's labor to maintain her at home, "secure and safe." Today is the day of divorce at will and equality rhetoric, which means that if her marriage ends, the homemaking wife will be catapulted into financial independence, and probably financial ruin. Such is the 1990s price tag for choosing to "play with dolls." in V.I. Warshawski in Burn Marks.
I can add that wifely activities is a risky business in the 2000s. Notice the term "Play with dolls" I remember auditioning for a commercial to earn extra income for my family. You know, the kind of commercial where the loving mother cooks ready made fried chicken in the oven for the working husband and two lovely children of both sexes? The mother removes the chicken from the oven while the happy family waits for the good home cooked meal and serves it with a smile, chanting a few sentences and she arrives to the table. During the audition, the director reminded me that I was..get this, "Just a housewife".
This type of terminology belittles the woman who chose to stay at home, raising her children and run a household, which requires a handful of different tasks that keeps them enormously busy all day and into the night. The stay at home mom, does not "sit on the couch and eat bon-bons" or "play with dolls" (unless they play with their 3 year old daughter to encourage play, rather than sit in front of the tv watching some cartoon for their afternoon entertainment) The stay at home mom needs to have organizational skills, know economics, safety, psychology, crisis intervention, health and diet, diplomacy, mathematics, science, chemistry, world history, algebra, physics, sports, legal and medical issues, patience, intuition, and the list goes on. Who ever said that a stay at home mom is lazy, has the life of luxury and eats bon-bons and watches soap operas all day?
However, no matter how much we loved our husbands and our families, sometimes things just fall apart and the reality is as stated above. It is a risk these days for a women to secure herself in trusting that her future will be "provided for" and to put aside her education and career building to remain at home raising her children in order to provide the highest level of support and security for her children. The risk is great and it is horrible to admit that something might happen that would spin her world around. It is like removing the carpet from under her feet, leaving her pillow wet from the fountain of tears.
I can add that wifely activities is a risky business in the 2000s. Notice the term "Play with dolls" I remember auditioning for a commercial to earn extra income for my family. You know, the kind of commercial where the loving mother cooks ready made fried chicken in the oven for the working husband and two lovely children of both sexes? The mother removes the chicken from the oven while the happy family waits for the good home cooked meal and serves it with a smile, chanting a few sentences and she arrives to the table. During the audition, the director reminded me that I was..get this, "Just a housewife".
This type of terminology belittles the woman who chose to stay at home, raising her children and run a household, which requires a handful of different tasks that keeps them enormously busy all day and into the night. The stay at home mom, does not "sit on the couch and eat bon-bons" or "play with dolls" (unless they play with their 3 year old daughter to encourage play, rather than sit in front of the tv watching some cartoon for their afternoon entertainment) The stay at home mom needs to have organizational skills, know economics, safety, psychology, crisis intervention, health and diet, diplomacy, mathematics, science, chemistry, world history, algebra, physics, sports, legal and medical issues, patience, intuition, and the list goes on. Who ever said that a stay at home mom is lazy, has the life of luxury and eats bon-bons and watches soap operas all day?
However, no matter how much we loved our husbands and our families, sometimes things just fall apart and the reality is as stated above. It is a risk these days for a women to secure herself in trusting that her future will be "provided for" and to put aside her education and career building to remain at home raising her children in order to provide the highest level of support and security for her children. The risk is great and it is horrible to admit that something might happen that would spin her world around. It is like removing the carpet from under her feet, leaving her pillow wet from the fountain of tears.
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