Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Why I Want A Wife'

The year 1970, a feminist conference in San Francisco was held to celebrate the 50th anniversary of women’s rights to vote. During this time, Judy Syfers a feminist, political and environmental activist, and a freelance writer wrote a speech that was presented to the conference called “Why I want a wife”, she read her essay and spoke in front of the crowd in San Francisco. The aim of her reading was to show awareness in feminism as a wife in the eyes of both men and women. This piece that was written was for both men and women belonging to the crown in San Francisco in the feminist conference in 1970. The cultural context of this speech was meant for the people in 1970 and ever since Judy read her piece to the crowd, this issue of feminism is still a popular context until today not only in America, but also all around the world.

The tone of the speech was humorous, casual, satirical and ironic in some parts of the speech. An example to prove this

I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one.” This sentence clearly shows an example of a humorous, satirical and ironic tone as it sarcastically comments on the chauvinistic point of view of men and how they perceive a perfect partner should be. There are 2 themes to the speech as one is meant for men and the other meant for women (specifically housewives and those who are being treated differently by men). For the men, the speech shows the perfect wife every man desires to have in terms of all their duties; For the women, it is the expectations and duties of a wife who are not appreciated and valued by both men and women. Syfers speaks to housewives, that they should take a good look and a new perspective on the expected responsibility our partners secretly covet. At the time, “I Want a Wife” had the humorous effect of surprising the reader, because a woman was the one asking for a wife. Decades before gay marriage became a commonly discussed subject,