The Stepford Wives

Joanna’s newspaper article seems to work, and a woman named Bobbie Markowe calls her, interested to meet. Bobbie is impressed by Joanna’s photos and, like Joanna, is skeptical of the culture that exists in Stepford. Bobbie is relieved to see that Joanna’s house is a mess; Bobbie finds it equally unsettling that the town’s women seem to do nothing but clean. She and Joanna decide that they should form a women’s group to try and shake up the status quo. They ask all the women in town, and all but one elderly widow decline the invitation, saying they have no time nor need to relax. By the time their search is over, Bobbie comments that they must be “in the Town That Time Forgot” (23).

One day after Walter finishes work, Joanna goes into the city to meet Walter and their friends for dinner and a play. There, Joanna’s friend reminds Joanna that she is meant to be a photographer, not a canvasser, and Joanna resolves to forget about the other Stepford women to focus on her art and her new friend, Bobbie.

After the third meeting with the Men’s Association, Walter invites the New Projects Committee to his home in the evening. He asks Joanna to hang around and prove her intelligence to the men, but she sees through Walter’s request and knows he wants her to be a waitress for the gathering. She agrees regardless, hoping she can still convince the men of something. The men present include Ike Mazzard, a famous magazine illustrator, Dale Coba, president of the Men’s Association, and a few others. Ike draws several sketches of Joanna, flattering her and making her feel awkward in front of everyone. She graciously accepts one of the sketches as a gift. Throughout the evening, the conversation remains on projects old and new, and Joanna tries to suggest a lecture series to get the townspeople out and talking to one another. When she goes into the kitchen to make some coffee, Dale follows her in and watches her. He tells Joanna he enjoys watching women do chores and stares at her with a disparaging look. When Dale tells Joanna he used to work at Disneyland, she doesn’t believe him, noting he doesn’t seem like the type to want to bring joy to others. Dale suspiciously replies: “How little you know” (31).

Bobbie finds another woman, Charmaine Wimperis, who is interested in socializing. The wealthy Charmaine has her own tennis court and invites Bobbie and Joanna over to play. During their visit, they find that Charmaine has no interest in feminism or politics though she is glad that her husband is out of the house most nights.

While Joanna is sorting through some old things left behind by the house’s previous owner, she finds a newspaper that details an event held by a Stepford Women’s Club. Confused, Joanna wonders what could have happened since no Women’s Club currently exists. The group had over 50 members, including Dale’s wife and Kit Sundersen, a woman whom Joanna previously asked about forming a new group. Walter suggests the club must have just fallen apart, but Joanna knows there is something more going on. She decides to visit Kit and ask about the old Women’s Club. Kit invites her in and takes Joanna into the kitchen while she does laundry. Joanna watches as Kit smiles and perfectly folds clothes “like an actress in a commercial” (42); she is immaculately dressed and seemingly happy to be performing such menial tasks all day, every day. Joanna feels like most of the women in Stepford give her this impression and that their complacent nature seems too extreme to be real. She asks about the Women’s Club, and Kit replies that it became boring, was never useful, and just disbanded.

Joanna decides to go out and try to take some photographs of the town at night. She makes her way to the center square and sets up her tripod, taking photos of various buildings using a time exposure method. While she is shooting, a strange, medicinal smell wafts through the air. She sees the building that houses the Men’s Association on the hill, which to her looks “surprisingly comical” (45). Joanna notices the windows are lit and people are inside. Soon, a policeman arrives and begins asking Joanna questions about her camera. Eventually he leaves, and when Joanna looks back at the Men’s Association windows, the curtains are drawn, and the lights are off. She starts to wonder if they were tipped off by the policeman, though she has no clue about what.

Several uneventful months pass, and, in November, the Eberharts host a dinner party and invite their friends. Joanna hires a woman to help her cater, and the woman remarks on how the Men’s Association ruined home entertainment in Stepford. She says the club is only a few years old, and Joanna is surprised to hear this. The entire party is a flop, and at the end of the night, Joanna criticizes Walter for ignoring the women all evening.

Joanna calls Charmaine to arrange a tennis match and listens to Charmaine complain about how much she dislikes her husband’s company and does not want to have sex with him. Charmaine says that she and her husband are going to have a weekend away together, and she is dreading it. When the day of the match comes, Joanna arrives at Charmaine’s house, but Charmaine has completely forgotten their date. On top of that, Charmaine suddenly says she is too busy to play because she has to clean, and that her husband Ed deserves better than what she has been giving him. She also plans to quit tennis and focus entirely on Ed and the house. In disbelief, Joanna says she cannot believe Charmaine’s plans to quit tennis but soon sees that Charmaine has already hired a company to demolish her court. Joanna leaves, confused and disturbed, and when she tells Bobbie, Bobbie hints that it happens to women in Stepford all the time. When Joanna tells Walter about Charmaine, he seems uninterested and unsurprised.

When Joanna meets up with Bobbie, Bobbie tells her about a place in Texas with a low crime rate due to a chemical in the area that makes the people docile. Bobbie believes something similar is happening in Stepford due to the many factories that exist in the town. She notes how many women have changed, including Charmaine and Kit. Bobbie theorizes that a hormone in the ground or air must be changing the women into stereotypical, obedient housewives, pointing out how it even seems to affect their appearance. Bobbie suggests that they both take their families and move out of Stepford before they become like the other women, but Joanna feels conflicted, knowing that she finally has her house and family settled. When she talks to Walter later, he agrees to move next spring if she becomes too dissatisfied with life in Stepford, and Joanna feels relieved. Bobbie’s husband says the same, and the months leading up to Christmas pass by with little excitement, until a man named Claude Axhelm asks Joanna to participate in a project for him. Her task is to record lists of words that he claims he is using it to create a geographical data set for the police. Claude explains that the men do the same task at the Men’s Association house. Joanna is reluctant after hearing that Bobbie lost her voice, but agrees, with Walter’s encouragement. She sits down one night and begins recording herself saying words like, “Talcum. Talent. Talented. Talkative. Talked” (65).