Analysis of The Two Selected Texts Advocating for Women’s Rights

Judy Syfers’ essay “I Want A Wife” introduces to an unmarried woman what married life is all about and to raises consciousness of the subordinate role a woman will take after marriage. The intended audience for this text is not academics or scholars. Syfers is more likely focusing on unmarried women, and that is why she published her writing in Ms. Magazine. She accomplishes her purpose by writing about all the tasks and roles of a wife. The second text is “Liberation of Women: Sexual Repression and the Family” by Laurel Limpus. The intended audience for this text is everyone; all women and men. The purpose of her text is to try and get more people to join the Women’s Liberation Movement, which was taking place at that time. Limpus does so by writing about the oppression women went through at that period of time, and she examined all the aspects and reasons as to why women were oppressed. “I Want A Wife” by Judy Syfers is more convincing to its intended audience than “Liberation of Women” because it is humorous, its language is accessible to the reader, and the author has authority as she relates to her personal experience as a wife and mother.

Humor is an important tool a writer should use to get and keep the reader’s attention. Syfers successfully achieves this aspect in her writing. She uses irony and a witty, humorous tone to provide comic relief for her audience. Since the text is written to secretaries, students, and single women in general (housewives might also be reading Ms. Magazine), its humor will catch their attention because of their young age. The students do a lot of studying and the secretaries are busy with their work. Therefore, Syfers’ text works best for them because they can read it during a short break, and it will provide them with some comic relief. The humor in the text will also cover up any insult housewives might feel because of the reality spoken about their subordinate roles. Syfers’ humor, represented by the contradictory passage, “I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it,” made her text become widely spread all over the internet and in anthologies, while Laurel Limpus’ text can only be found in three websites, with only one containing the whole text. In contrast to Syfers’ irony, Limpus’ text is too serious, which is most likely going to be unappreciated by the audience the text is written to. Even from the very first sentence of her text, Limpus writes, “This is an attempt to deal with some of the theoretical problems of the liberation of women, particularly as they relate to sexuality and sexual repression.” Although she moves right to the point of her text, she is more likely to repel some of the audience she could have won had she not been as serious.

Not only does Syfers provide humor in her text, but she also uses simple, accessible language, which is a very important aspect of any piece of writing. When the language is simplified, the text’s audience broadens. Syfers uses easily understandable terminology and vocabulary and still gets her point through. Since her text is aimed at young students and secretaries, who are not necessarily university graduates, the accessible language will make them be able to easily understand what they are reading. Syfers uses simple phrases like, “Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is looking for another wife,” to clearly get her point through. Her text is not only interesting because of the humorous tone and simple language, but also because it is short and to the point. Since the text is aimed at reaching women, some of whom do not have the time to read long articles, they (the audience) need a short text to read while eating a meal or shopping in the supermarket or during a break from work. Syfers’ accessible language, combined with her humor and the text’s shortness makes the reader able and willing to read it at anytime and more than once. On the other hand, Laurel Limpus’ text is very long – almost fifteen pages. That is in addition to her very difficult and complicated language. Limpus uses phrases such as, “One of the most pervading conceptions in the present ideology is that the family is a natural, inevitable phenomenon . . . because of the apparent universality of the family, women are relegated . . . .” This narrows down the audience that Limpus could have obtained if her text were shorter and more simplified.

In addition to humor, accessible language, and shortness, Syfers’ text contains authority. The authority of a writer is determined by his or her personal experience in the field he/she is relating to in the text. In her text, Syfers talks about wives and their roles. She has authority because she herself is “a wife. And, not altogether incidentally, . . . a mother.” Syfers, therefore, can relate to her personal experience of being a mother and wife, and therefore, the reader (any reader, no matter who the intended audience is) can trust what she says. However, some people like to take into consideration the dangers of personal experience making a text too subjective and biased. This is true in a lot of cases, but Syfers’ text is not biased because it talks about the actual reality of married life at that period of time. The wives’ roles she writes about are the actual roles of all wives at that time. Therefore, Syfers does not present her opinion or her inference about the roles of wives at that time. Rather, she speaks facts and reality. On the contrary, Limpus does not have authority, and that is because she doesn’t speak from personal experience. Limpus writes about wives and women’s oppression during her years as a university student, showing that she hasn’t experienced what she writes about. Her point of view is shown weak when she says, “The myth that childbearing and rearing is the fulfillment of a woman’s destiny is by far, in my opinion, the most damaging and destructive myth that imprisons her.” Not only did she not demonstrate her point of view with authority by using phrases like “in my opinion”, but she speaks of childbearing and rearing while she is but a university student or very recent graduate. What does she know about childbearing, rearing, or even being a wife? Therefore, the reader is not likely to easily believe everything Limpus writes about.

Humor, accessible and simplified language, and authority through personal experience make “I Want A Wife” by Judy Syfers a more convincing text to its intended audience than Limpus’ “Liberation of Women: Sexual Repression and the Family.” Syfers combines many important writing variables to achieve popularity for her text. That is why her text is found all over the internet while Laurel Limpus’ text is very rarely found or even heard of. Judy Syfers has, without a doubt, convinced her audience through her well written text.