The Second Sex

In the introduction of The Second Sex: Woman as Others, Simone de Beauvoir poses the question 'what is a woman?' She start off by stating women make up half of humanity but still are told 'femininity is in danger'. Hence, if it is in danger now what is to say that is ever existed, and if it never exist then how is every human being a singular, separate individual? Man have always, and most likely will always, be seen as the superior race; whereas men will continue to see women as the minority or as St Thomas put it, an 'imperfect man'. Benda stated that 'she' cannot think without man and 'she' is simply a sexual object for mans desire. However, it is through this desire that man have some dependence on women, for the mere fact of offspring. de Beauvior book is her attempt in the 'interests in the fortunes of the individual as defined not in terms of happiness but in terms of liberty'. She wants woman to be able to come together as a whole to fight against men because until then woman's status will be that of what a man wants it to be.  As of now, 'she' lives in a world where men give her the status of the Other and they (men) are the One.  Men propose her as an object. Males and females have never been able to inhabit the world equally due to this bias way of thinking; that man are inferior to woman. 

The author states over and over the concept of being a woman and the struggle woman go through seeking equal acceptance in a 'mans world'.  Although her ideas are profound and hold true meaning, I found the introduction to be quite redundant. She found many ways to state that woman are the lesser of the human race.  However, the examples given made the introduction not so difficult to read; Her example about how man regards the body of a woman as a 'hinderance, a prison' never being able to connect to the world the way in which His is capable of.  Even though, repetition of the same idea exist throughout the work the way it is presented works. It is as though the author is trying to beat it in our heads that woman are not a minority in the world but even more so have the ability to stand up against this controversial issue.

As a woman, I agree with what de Beauvoir says; however, I do believe it needs to be taken into consideration that this piece was written in 1949.  To me, this is an important aspect to consider because I feel the inequality between men and women has sunk since that time. Nowadays women are able to work in positions that in the past have been deemed only for men.  Look at this past year, a female ran for president and a female was the running mate of a white male republican.  As little as 10 years ago, you would have never seen that happen.  All that can say is that the world is changing and society, for the most part, is keeping up.  Women will have to continue to fight to justice. 

Some Questions to Think About...

1. What view point do you believe de Beauvoir is taking on the issue of equality in regards to this book?

2. How do you feel about what de Beauvoir states about woman being the 'other'?

3. How you ever been an 'other'? If so, has that experience taught you anything?