We all recognize that My Year Of Meats its just about a closer look at the controversy with the meat industry, its about the story of Jane and Akikos self- discovery of them as women. My Year Of Meats is based around this show called My American Wife which is a cooking show about the "typical" American wife. Jane is responsible for finding American housewives who are wholesome and attractive who will open her home to the cameras and make a meal whose centerpiece is some kind of beef dish. This aspect of the book bothered me. Why is it obligation that women need to be this perfect housewife and why are women perceived as that in the media?
I found this article from the Huff post called What Is The Proper Role of a 21st century wife? by Fawn Weaver. The article is about how the author once attempt to be a stay at home mom, she left her job for sabbatical but still worked on several projects during it. Then somehow down the road she thought shed be a better wife and mother if she stayed at home. Her husband questioned that thought "Honey, I'm not trying to be funny but you're not built to be a stay-at-home mom. Every day, I'd come home from work and the kids would run up to me, 'Daddy, please save us from mommy! She's trying to turn us into another one of her projects!'". Then she goes on talking about her friend, Courtney Joseph, author of Women Living Well, she loves being a homeschooling stay-at-home mom and wife with sole responsibility of domestic duties. Its been her dream since she was a little girl and she's now living out that dream. The first time I met Courtney, I found it incredibly refreshing to see the pure joy in her eyes when she talked about being a stay-at-home mom and wife. Then the author goes on saying how that same feeling Courtney gets from being a domestic housewife is the same feeling she gets from sharing a business idea with her husband. She says that her friend Courtney is the perfect example of a 21st century wife and so is she...the working wife and mother. She ask the question
So what is the proper role of a 21st century wife? Whatever you want it to be. "Whatever brings the most joy to you and your spouse." She also quotes "You are beautiful. You are wonderful. You are unique. So don't make your role as wife look like a cookie cutter image of anyone else. Don't allow anyone outside of your home to define the roles within it."
Reading this made me think of the two women, Jane and Akiko. Both these women are very different but both are women who are just trying to discover who they are their place. The pressure of looking perfect,being the perfect wife, and being good at her job push her too her limits. Jane cheats on john and is left with an unwanted pregnancy. Akiko on the other hand wants a child and find it very difficult to get pregnant. Akiko thinks about the episode of My American Wife! with the lesbians and realizes she cannot find happiness with her husband. As Akiko reaches this conclusion, her husband's occasional abuse.
Having the body of a women we think have this maternal need to find a husband and get pregnant....but why is that the case. Women can have more, we can have a successful job, we can have a family, we can have happiness. There doesn't need to be this pressure to be perfect. The irony of My Year of Meats is that the show they are perceive are these perfect, attractive housewives but the women in the book are far from perfect. Like Weaver says women don't need to be some cookie cutter way.
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