Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Will the REAL house wives please stand up.

     
                                                                       

  


So, if self proclaimed feminist have a problem with a powerful women choosing to stay home while her husband works, like Samantha from Bewitched, I wonder how they'd feel about what we have come to know as the modern day, Housewives... or shall I say divorced wives, of Orange County, New Jersey, and the rest of the Wives series currently flooding the airwaves on various networks. 

A majority of these women, if they are not being taken care of by their husbands, are divorced and living off the settlement money and the money they earn from the very series that deems them a 'real wife'. I remember in 2004 when housewives were desperate, and then when they were spouses in the army. Both shows were fictional and portrayed two different demographics of women. I found these intriguing enough, but then someone got the bright idea that the real scandal of the "modern" housewife needed to be portrayed. 

I use modern in quotations because although set in the present day, these women portray nothing of the life of any housewives I know. The above article notes that the life style these women lead, going on shopping sprees and expensive trips, glamorizes the life of a today's housewife. Instead of taking care of the kids, cooking and cleaning, they're going to day spa's, tipping the nanny, and giving their kid a pat on the head, if their kids are even seen that week. Which, in a lot of these shows I often forget that they even have children at all. 

With the fictional housewives came a lot of drama, fighting, betrayal, and secrets, with the Real housewives we experience the exact same thing. Is this the reality of women with far too much money and time? It's ironic that we fought so hard to get away from the stereotype that was placed upon us by society and the media, just for the same stereotype to be placed back on us in the new millennium, but this time adorned with diamonds and accessorized with black cards. It says we don't have to be intelligent, just beautiful enough to catch a man and have him take care of us. (Sounds familiar right?) 

The article does however highlight one woman that makes that truly demonstrates the glamour of a house wife- Beyonce. Leading the pack of the 'Independent Women' movement in the early 2000's, she is now all about love, and being a wife. However, all the glamour that surrounds her life did not come with the union of her and of her billionaire husband, but from her own success. I have to admit that I do get my share of wives drama in every so often, my poison being Basketball Wives, but I wonder if television is ever going to accurately depict what it's like being a wife in 2012, in the real world. How about some 'Real House Wives of Dekalb County'? Or maybe 'Real House Wives of Compton', Kansas! I think it'd make for an interesting show, and I’m sure they keep it real. What House Wives would you want to see? 

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