Perfect Husbands (& Other Fairy Tales): Demystifying Marriage, Men and Romance

Barreca ( They Used to Call Me Snow White, But I Drifted ) presents a lively and convincing overview of the politics of marriage. Although women's roles in society and marriage have changed drastically over the past few decades, the traditional concept of husband as breadwinner and household head has not kept up with these changes. According to Barreca, it is still common for women--even those with lucrative careers--to allow themselves to drift into emotional and financial dependence on men, a point she bolsters with examples from literature, popular songs and movies which illustrate how women have long regarded men as their ``saviors.'' There are problems for a woman who doesn't take responsibility for herself: the author speaks of her own failure to learn how to drive until age 33, depending on others to take her where she needed to go, all too often to places of their choice. Barreca doesn't denounce marriage, but she urges women to regard it as a journey instead of a destination and to look upon men as fallible humans instead of husband material. Only then, she notes, can there be true equality in marriage. (Oct.)