Desperate Housewives

By Rene Williams

Desperate Housewives, ABC’s runaway hit, features the stories of the ladies of Wisteria Lane. Each Sunday night, fans of the show get to watch Bree, Susan, Lynette, Gabrielle and Edie tackle the trials of relationships, motherhood and corporate America in a dark and cynical look at life in surburbia. Although everything appears perfect on the outside, there is much hiding behind the walls of beautiful homes and manicured lawns.

As one would expect, one theme that repeatedly runs through the show is desperation. And desperation repeatedly leads to manipulation. Women consistently scheme and connive to get people – especially men – to do exactly what they want. I’m not sure if life imitates art or art imitates life, but I’ve noticed that this doesn’t just happen on television. Women have been manipulating men for years.

Case in point, recently I’ve come upon two true stories of women taking advantage of men. One story starts off with a beautiful woman setting her sights on a gorgeous man. Through tactics and scheming, she eventually gets the marriage proposal she’s been planning for. But there’s one problem; the man doesn’t love the woman. He succumbed to pressure of family and friends, gave in and married the woman. Now, they both live a life of misery. She’s sad because he doesn’t give her the attention she feels she deserves and he’s unhappy because he’s tied to a woman he doesn’t love.

The second story is frighteningly similar. This second man is considered “a catch”. He’s saved, attractive, level-headed and goal-oriented. The woman had been eying him from a distance and eventually they started dating. Since that time, she has been trying to get him to “pop the question”. Catching him while he was extremely vulnerable, she eventually gets him to propose. Like the first man, he’s been trying to get out the relationship for years, but through her manipulation and guilt trips (using family members and church members), he’s stayed. Now he finds himself depressed and confused because he knows he doesn’t want to marry her and not sure of the way out.