Growing up I have always dreamt of the perfect wedding, elegant and flawless. There will be gold trim on everything, and beautiful flowers will drape over every corner possible. A huge rock on my ring finger that is nearly blinding to look at, and some diamond heels that will nervously walk down the aisle. Everything about the wedding is perfect except for when it is all said and done and the woman becomes tied down with responsibilities. After marriage you are no longer a girlfriend, you become a wife. I had never thought of the term wife before as a positive thing, a wife is someone who is burdened to do everything in the house: clean, cook, shop, all of the essentials. She is labeled and tied down by the mere word, “I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will pick up after me.” Judy Brady, the author of I Want a Wife, is a wife and a mother, and she understands what responsibilities a female must have after marriage. In the essay, Brady repetitively uses the phrase “I want a wife who..” will do this or that, she is just building up on how many things a woman must take care of, instead of taking care of herself. Females are seen as complete objects rather than a person with their own needs. Sure I can have a perfect wedding, but why would I want to risk losing being an independent woman for the sake of a man.

A female is inferior to a man because society makes her so, not because she actually is, “We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller”. Girls are taught at a young age to go after what they want, but then are portrayed as the mean b****y boss: “We say to girls, ‘You can have ambition but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful’.” Society is a hypocrite. Coming from the queen herself: Beyoncé wrote the song Flawless to empower women around the world. Beyoncé is not an exception to the “rule” she is just an example that every girl can be successful. Women should have the ability to do everything men do, and do it better. Females are being held back because as the women around the world rise the men become inferior and feel threatened. In the media and in real life men make up the majority of bosses in the workforce. They are always portrayed as a funny protagonist who is able to get the job done, and have time for fun. On the slight chance that a woman is the boss in real life or a film she is portrayed in a completely different manner. There are two types of woman bosses in today’s day and age according to the media. She is a bossy woman, who everyone hates, and no one respects, and all she ever does is nag and yell at her coworkers. Or she is a ditz, who is only looked at for her beauty; she is simply eye candy. These stereotypes are preventing young aspiring girls from perusing their dreams of becoming something big.

Girls all around the world are being taken advantage of by men. Males do not care about how these young girls feel as they use them for their own pleasure. Girls are not valued for their education or their abilities; they are only there for a man’s needs and his own desires. Unfortunately because of this, many girls and even children have been forced into the sex slavery business. Sex slavery has become a huge epidemic, and in some places it is nearly impossible to catch those who are in charge of it. Not only are the girls forced to have sex with drunk and careless people, they have to accept twenty to thirty clients a day. They are forced against their will, and threatened with their lives. Most girls do not even know what they are getting themselves into, and after they are a sex slave most of them will never get out of the business alive. Their brothel owners torture them either by beating them, electrocuting them, or worse; they kill them. A young girl named Somana from Cambodia was bought by a brothel when she was only thirteen years old. Somana refused to take clients, so her owner gouged her eye out; she was then forced to keep taking clients as she was bleeding. After she got out of sex slavery her family disowned her because of the embarrassment she had caused them. Somana was a victim, and should not be blamed for this crime. This story is from the book and documentary: Half the Sky, which is an organization that is trying to gain awareness so that we can make a difference and save lives across the globe. Somana’s wanted her story out in the open to show other girls that it is never the victim’s fault.

No matter where you are in the world, women are the inferior gender. Becoming a wife should be the best day in a girl’s life and a beautiful start to a fairy tale ending. The matter of fact is that a fairy tale is not reality. The burden’s that come with being a wife outweigh the positives. On the other hand, girls are taught at a young age that being successful is good thing but later realize that it is not worth the stress. Young ladies should strive to make a name for themselves in this “man’s world”, however when they try to they become seen as a monster of a person. The needs of a man in his world are absolutely the last thing that a woman should be worried about. Women are not objects that can be thrown around like a bunch of Barbie dolls. Most people think that America is such a great country, and only poor countries would ever have sex slavery. That is one hundred percent false. Sex slavery is relevant, and is happening all of the time in the US. Instead of being the wife of someone so demanding, or owned by a brothel these young girls could be the change in the world. There is no better time than right now to make a change in the world. Females can overcome the adversity one step at a time; let’s make this male dominated world a better place to live in, where woman are perceived as humans and the only objects are toys.