“Stepford doctors”: an allegory
- Correspondence to: Gwen M Sayers Consultant Physician and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer (Imperial College School of Medicine), Department of General and Geriatric Medicine, Northwick Park Hospital, Watford Road, Middlesex HA1 3UJ; gwen.sayers{at}imperial.ac.uk
- Accepted 10 November 2004
Abstract
The Stepford Wives, a novel by Ira Levin, provides the theme for this allegory. The men of Stepford belong to the Men’s Association. Their wives are “perfect”, in that they do nothing other than clean, cook, preen, and provide satisfaction without argument for their husbands. They are, furthermore, content with their lot, and believe that their previous interests and freedoms were self indulgent. Levin never informs his readers how the men came to obtain total mastery over their “Stepford wives”, although there is the suggestion that the real wives have been replaced by robotic lookalikes.
