The wives that husbands really want

scotsman ^ | 2/12/03

[knak]

REPORTS that there is to be a remake of The Stepford Wives, that creepy Seventies film in which husbands replace their womenfolk with robots, has prompted much post-feminist debate.

The American writer Naomi Wolf says generously that today’s men wouldn’t want Stepford wives, that they relish "spirited interaction" with their liberated partners and wouldn’t trade them in for compliant domestic goddesses. Not in a million years.

If offered the choice between great food, sex on demand and a wife who doesn’t answer back (cyborg), and bad food, infrequent sex and a grumpy harpy in the home (human), modern man with his enlightened take on sexual equality would naturally plump for the latter.

We have moved on from the days when nascent female liberation struck terror into men’s hearts, when bra-burning stereotypes stoked manly indignation, when male fantasies featured big-breasted babes licking chocolate off their fingers as they popped cakes into the oven.

Sure we have. Noughties pin-ups like Nigella are ironic, cosmetic surgery is about empowerment, and Naomi lives on another planet.

If a secret ballot gave men the option to turn back the clock, does she really believe a clear majority would vote no, committed as they are to the revolution articulated by Germaine Greer and Gloria Steinem?

Show me the man who voluntarily surrendered privileges and happily relinquished control and I will show you a robot.

[knak]

geez, it's just a movie

[AntiGuv]

I'll admit, I'd take the Stepford. In fact, I'd even splurge for two or three! ;)

[ffusco]

I'd describe it as the feminist version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, one of my creepy faves of the 70's.

[Keith]

ya wanna bet...?

[poorman]

Nothing says I Love You like a good argument with your other half.

[demnomo]

From the bottom of her article:

A FRIEND typed "French military victories" into the Google search engine and seconds later it fired off: "Do you mean French military defeats? Your search - French military victories - did not match any documents." When I tried this, I received the usual 58,000 results. A Google boss must have cottoned on to the Gallophobic prank.

Now, that's funny. As for The Stepford Wives movie...it was creepy. I saw it the other night and it hasn't aged well. The scene with the robotic domestic goddesses shopping for groceries while clothed in long dresses, hats, pearls and white gloves was over-the-top...even when one considers the dark fantasies of a frustrated Feminist author from the Sixties & Seventies!

[AZLiberty]

I like the last paragraph of the article, on an unrelated topic:

A friend typed "French military victories" into the Google search engine and seconds later it fired off: "Do you mean French military defeats? Your search - French military victories - did not match any documents." When I tried this, I received the usual 58,000 results. A Google boss must have cottoned on to the Gallophobic prank.

[Calvin Locke]

...modern man...would naturally plump for the latter. I had a wife 2/3's of the latter. I'll take any 2/3's of the former.

[Jeff Chandler]

In a somewhat related vein, I once heard that the happiest man on earth

Eats Chinese food
Drinks German beer
Has a Japanese wife
and lives in America.

[vetvetdoug]

Naomi has got it wrong. All I want is a good looking woman that will bang nightly. I don't care if she can cook, spell, hold a conversation, or walk upright. If it weren't for sex, most women would be obsolete. I can hold a conversation with my clients and friends. Like someone else stated, I'd have three or four of them (Stepford wives).

[Dark Knight]

>>The American writer Naomi Wolf says generously that today’s men wouldn’t want Stepford wives, that they relish "spirited interaction" with their liberated partners and wouldn’t trade them in for compliant domestic goddesses. Not in a million years.<<

This is the woman that talks about everywoman's shadow slut, and earned her reputation with knee pads. She is a democratic stepford wife. She just did not have a clue. Maybe that is the key to being a robot?

DK

[Jeff Chandler]

I don't care if she can cook, spell, hold a conversation, or walk upright.

I beg to differ. The ability to cook is important. Sex makes me hungry.