From Housekeeping Monthly, 13 May, 1955.
The following is a ‘look how far we’ve come’ fabrication. There is no such magazine as Housekeeping Monthly. The list was one of those ‘email this to a friend’ jokes. Nevertheless, if you look at it as satire, it’s funny (I think). If you are offended by it, let me know. gary@LetLifeIn.com
1. Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have be thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they get home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.
3. Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.
7. Be happy to see him.
8. Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.
9. Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first – remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.
10. Don’t greet him with complaints and problems.
11. Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.
15. A good wife always knows her place. <<
Dear Sir,
I was deeply offended by this article. Perhaps the reason is in the way that it was presented to me. My husband brought this home from work with him one day with specific areas highlighted that he wanted me to see. The message that he wanted to get across to me was that I needed to not speak about my “trivial life” that indeed, it is only his life that has any significance. Furthermore, he wanted to place emphasis on what he preceives as my inadequate housekeeping. You see, my husband is an alcoholic who spares nothing when it regards his attempt to belittle and what amounts to his emotional abuse of me. I have only been married for four and a half years and in that time my husband has nearly died from his alcoholism, his emotional tyranny has caused me to suffer a nervous breakdown and has kept me at such a high level of anxiety my health has been permanently effected to the point that it is extremely difficult for me to function on a daily basis. So, when I saw that there was a tool available, in the form of a joke email, to futher aid my husband’s reign of terror I was deeply offended. You see, I read the ‘article’ while he watched me intently and without saying a word regarding the content, I quietly placed the email where it belonged: in the trash. Where upon, my husband stated that he was glad that he had made several copies of the email which he had left at his office. Since this incident, this miserable man has seen fit to put me out of the house without money or income, very little of my clothing or personal property. It has been a month and I have had very little to eat, have lost ten pounds, have great difficulty maintaining control of my anxiety and emotions, other health issues are greatly aggravated by my stress level, and because I do not have children, there are no social services that are available to aid me. I have had only my brother, who recently suffered a stroke, to help me. I feel extreme guilt in having to impose on him in this way but have had no other choice. I just want you to understand that it is the archaic mentality that is perpetuated by these types of “joke emails” that causes some women to be continually treated as property or as second-class citizens not worthy of the same respect and dignity that is afforded to men. Please do not mistake me for a feminist, or in a more ignorant way a “bra burning lesbian” for I am neither. What I am is a woman who has endeavored in everyway possible to improve the person that she is. Having suffered the same type of abuse from her parents, she abused alcohol through her twenties and into her thirties in order to numb the pain of her exsistence. She has failed at every career path she has attempted for the ten years prior to her marriage (at age 35). She felt herself to be nothing more than a collossal loser. However, Christmas day 2005 I decided to no longer accept the status quo and on that day, two months prior to marriage, I quit drinking. One year into my marriage I returned to college, received exceptional grades and in July of 2009 received my associates degree from a two year institution. I am dealing, with the aid of a counselor, with my emotional issues caused by a lifetime of emotional and psychological abuse. Finally, one week after my husband threw me out of the house, I began my studies, in pursuit of my bachelors degree, at a four year institution. One month later, I have found a part time job. I have done much to change my history, while my husband has done everything possible to destroy me with his cruel behavior. So, when he used this joke email to aid his cause I did not find humor in it, I only felt the pain of his attempt to negate all that I have accomplished and all that I am attempting to accomplish and, in fact, to negate me as a human being worthy of respect irregardless of my gender. You may think that this is all a hoax, just like the article of 13 May 1955. I assure you it is not.
sounds like you should have read the article and then acted on it. He wouldn’t have had to put you out. Next time unless you are too old for any one to want you, you should try some of the tips!