Beauvoir's Argument In The Second Sex

Throughout history, women have constantly been objectified and forced into submission by the male dominated society. Simone de Beauvoir’s philosophical work, The Second Sex, echoes the intense oppression of women and reflects the first wave feminist movement. Her existentialist decoding of genders resulted in the idea of the Other, which explores the phenomenon of women forced into the role of an object, while men are the subject. In the second chapter, “The Girl”, Beauvoir further studies the idea of this oppression during one’s transition from a girl into a woman. Beauvoir states that no matter how much freedom and sense of self a girl holds, she is always forced into the role of the Other in society. Beauvoir 's idea of the Other held

As explained earlier in the article, men are regarded as the humanity and as the man is placed above woman as the absolute or the one and the term Other has a negative connotation (pg. 89). Beauvior states that a man is, "... the Subject, he is the Absolute- she is the Other" (pg. 89). These terms are in regard to the duality of man and woman as a man is perceived as the one to focus on and the word absolute suggests that man is pure, and his manliness is universally valid. In contrast the woman regarded as other relates to this idea that a woman is under the man in a sense of rank or importance and, she is simply regarded as one lesser than a man. A woman is regarded as not absolute, that a woman is the second part of the duality, that often is not regarded seriously or in a positive manner. For example, Beauvior argues that a woman defines and differentiates herself in respect to a man as she is an incidental and not necessary, therefore foreshadowing the idea of the term, "Other" as it is a category used to describe a woman in an unflattering perspective relative to the man (pg.

The next requirement for being a “true woman” was submissiveness. According to society men were superior to women by “God’s appointment.” If they acted otherwise they “tampered with the order of the Universe” (Welter 105). A “true woman” would not question this idea because she already understands her place. Grace Greenwood explained to the women of the Nineteenth Century, “True feminine genius is ever timid, doubtful, and clingingly dependant; a perpetual childhood.” Even in the case of an abusive husband, women were sometimes told to stay quiet

Is one born a woman or does one become a woman? Simone de Beauvoir also believes that one is not born a woman, but becomes one. In From Second Sex, she argues “we[women] are exhorted to be women, remain women, become women.” Women have always been man’s dependent and never shared the equality in power structure. They are even considered as ‘the others’ from men, not ‘the one’. This implies the idea of women being object in contrast to men being subject. de Beauvior says that this power inequality comes from the women’s historical economic dependence on men. Because of the material protection from the men in the past, women acquired to become ‘feminine.’ Therefore, females learn to be a woman as they grow up.

Simone de Beauvoir was an existential theorist; she recognized and discussed the role of women in society today. Beauvoir believed that women react and behave through the examination of male opinion; she believed that women are somewhat confused and unable to separate their true character from that character which, is expected of them. In this inability, women are unable to create their own identity; they are too focused on meeting the expectation men have created. However, while pursuing this expectation, women fall further behind in the pursuit of equality. “And why don't you write? Write! Writing is for you, you are for you; your body is yours, take it. I know why you haven’t

The Second Sex written by Simone de Beauvoir is started out with the question “do women exist”? Beauvoir professes this question to frame what a woman is and to show that there is such a thing as a woman but one is not born a woman. Simone de Beauvoir also professes the difference between “Self” and “Other”. She stresses that the “Self” is the absolute, which she references in culture as the man. Other almost always has a negative connotation to it, and is what the self is not, or what the self lacks which she references as the woman. This creates a hierarchy, not allowing people to live to their full potential because believe they are stuck in their group. Discrimination also occurs as you have one group against another, such as men vs. women, race vs. race, or even discrimination against different financial groups. This discrimination creates beliefs that are hard to change once they have begun. On page 15 Simone de Beauvoir

The Second Sex piloted an array of controversies regarding women’s issues, and provocatively sought for total equality between men and women. In terms of equality, de Beauvoir “insists that women and men treat each other as equals and that such treatment requires that their sexual differences be validated. Equality is not a synonym for sameness.” (Bergoffen). Simone de Beauvoir’s writing style was blunt and graphic. She lived a promiscuous lifestyle, and after being raised in Catholicism, de Beauvoir converted to atheism. Consequently, this combination earned The Second Sex a spot on the Catholic Church’s banned book list. However, that did not stop Simone de Beauvoir and The Second Sex from reaching the masses. In The Second Sex, de Beauvoir pioneered discussions about the religious origins of women to how women are perceived and how women should be perceived. “She is determined and differentiated in relation to man, while he is not in relation to her… He is the subject; he is the Absolute. She is the other.” (De Beauvoir 6). Simone de Beauvoir sought to liberate women as the “other” in relation to men.

Of the first person to attempt to view history through the eyes of feminism, Simone de Beauvoir asserts that man is the great subject and woman is the other – man is seen as essential, woman is not. Her primary argument is that men fundamentally oppress women by characterizing them as the ‘other’. The author also believes that women’s inferiority in society is not a result of natural, sexual differences but rather of differences in the societal development of men and women. She argues that women are not born passive; rather, “kept in a situation of inferiority”, one becomes used to the fact that she “is inferior” (xxiv).

In the piece, “Woman as Other” by Simone de Beauvoir, we see the authors view on how women are perceived in our country and the harsh treatment they endure. We see the authors view on what their role really is in society and how important they truly are. We see that Simone views women as a sub-human extension of the male race and are rarely given credit to be anything else except for that. While we may disagree, there are occurrences in our country that hold us responsible for this viewpoint of women.

From birth, girls are taught that they are to act a certain way, and when they become women, they perpetuate these norms by fulfilling them. “We are exhorted to be women, remain women, become women...”, De Beauvoir writes, “…it would appear, then, that every female human being is not necessarily a woman; to be so considered she must share in that mysterious and threatened reality known as femininity” . This femininity makes a female person a woman. For example, “[a woman] must become a passive thing, a promise of submission” and, conversely, “if [a woman] is proud and demanding, woman meets the male as an adversary” and is decidedly not feminine. “Shut up in her flesh, her home, she sees herself as passive before these gods with human faces who set goals and establish values” , and this acceptance and participation in traditional femininity perpetuates societal beliefs that women, or at least acceptable women, are inferior naturally. By doing this, women participate in the continuation of their domination by men, who society believes are more naturally suited for superiority. Furthermore, “The woman that does not conform devalues herself sexually, and hence socially, since sexual values are an integral feature of society” . This quote shows that, according to De Beauvoir, women have little

The Second Sex is a piece of literature that criticizes society, especially men for oppressing women. De Beauvoir believes that men limit women to their privileges by characterizing them as objects. Furthermore, Beauvoir sees that in society while men are considered dominant, and important, women, on the other hand, are considered, irrelevant, and insignificant. The main reason why woman are viewed this way is due to the roles they have in society. Their whole life they must appease to their husband’s commands and perform household responsibilities. The Second Sex highlights the vast imbalanced roles calling out what is wrong in society. De Beauvoir questions why an entire half of the human population is being discriminated against.

Lastly, “femininity” refers to behavioural activities or interests that are assigned to the female sex, such as cleaning and cooking (Beauvoir, 617). Although many critics have read her text and become confused due to her stylistic choice to fuse her voice with the voices of famous men, it can be said that the text ultimately leads the reader to begin to question what society sees as a woman (Zerilli, 1-2). Despite Beauvoir’s The Second Sex appearing to recognize the oppression of women throughout the world without giving an actual solution, I will argue that Beauvoir’s evaluation of each “natural” aspect of female oppression allows readers to recognize that the only thing holding themselves back as a woman is society’s unnatural definition of their body, relation to men, and personal freedoms. Of course, when it comes to one's freedom, it is difficult to obtain when your body feels like a

The novel relegates Jaya to the position of the other, inferior to her male counterparts, be it her father or husband. Just as in Orientalism Edward Said explains how the concept of East is constructed by the West as an inferior and exotic other which needs to be civilized, Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex explains the reasons whereby, women acquire the position of an inferior being. She says

What defines women as the other is not found in the state of nature or social history but in her biology and the overbearing consequences of her ability to become pregnant. In Beauvoir’s work, Women are inherently different from men in the biology and how omnipresent it is in their lives, and biology defines women because at the time she wrote The Second Sex the consequences of sex permeated every aspect of daily life. With birth control still difficult to obtain, the consequences of sex are at the forefront of a women’s mind, and if she wants to be sexually active, she must constantly consider the impacts another life will have on her finances, her home, her relationships and her work, if she is able to find it. A

“Society, being confined by man, decrees that woman is inferior” (Simone De Beauvoir). De Beauvoir is a very famous feminist theorist who was active during the twentieth century. She wrote many works on politics and social issues and is greatly known for her book “The Second Sex” which was used as a foundation for contemporary feminism. Simone believed that women were oppressed and therefore, made inferior, due to their socially assigned gender roles.