PhD doctorate
bashoor3
simon_de_bevoir_2016.docx@00444984
Professor Ursula
Theory, Text, Writing- Level 7
January 2016
Simon de Beauvoir
In France 1949, Simone de Beauvoir published "The Second Sex" which is considered one of the most fundamental publications that discussed the status of women in the modern era. She believed that women suffer from oppression that is practiced upon them by a patriarchal society. According to Beauvoir, "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman" (293). Women are artificially socially manufactured by men. There is no biological, psychological or economic evidence that identifies a woman. Furthermore, there is no scientific evidence that shows how a woman should act and react. A female becomes a woman based on how society defines a her. "The word sex for what Beauvoir says one is born with, and the word gender for what Beauvoir describes as what one becomes" (Parker 159).
In order to discuss The Other Sex, and Beauvoir's statement, fundamental questions need to be explained and answered. Those question are how the human mind was structured to understand the difference between sex and gender. Another question that Beauvoir raised is why woman are considered to be the 'other'? This research will discuss many literary and philosophical concepts such as: existentialism, sex and gender, situated freedom, patriarchal ideology, the other and the idea of passive and active.
"Feminist theory usually sees gender as constructed product of culture rather than the natural, enviable product of biology and anatomy" (Parker 159). The short story "Mannequin" by Jean Rhys explains how the protagonist Anna is seen as a constructed product or in other words how Anna is a victim of patriarchal programming of men. Anna fought to be a model and when getting this position, she acknowledged that she is a man's' creation where:
"In the mannequins' dressing-room she spent a shy hour making up her face-in an extraordinary and distinctive atmosphere of slimness and beauty; white arms and faces vivid with rouge; raucous voices and the smell of cosmetics; silken lingerie… a depressing room, taken by itself, bare and cold, a very inadequate conservatory for these human flowers" (Rhys 150).
This extract explains how woman are viewed as ill-suited, and to be fit to society they need to be submissive to men. Men wanted woman to wear makeup and convinced them that it is the way to be "good". And when wearing makeup and concerning too much on their looks, men attack woman claiming that women issues and concerns are trivial thus claiming women as passive objects. Basically, beauty is defined from the point of view of men. Men construct the rules of society and "Women measure themselves and each other according to socially constructed and variable standards of beauty, behavior, activity, and sexuality" (Scholz 69). Today, women are trying to change the stereotype that man have reinforced upon them.
Patriarchal programming created certain myths about woman. One of the myths is the myth of motherhood. To men, women should "look great at the office and over the breakfast table, attend to all her children's needs, and please her husband in bed" (Tyson 91). To men, a woman should be " modest, unassuming, self-scarifying, and nurturing. She has no needs of her own, for she is completely satisfied by serving her family" (Tyson 90 ). Men define motherhood as if it is natural process where it is the job of the woman to raise children. Beauvoir argues, "forced motherhood results in bringing miserable children into the world, children whose parents cannot feed them, who become victims of public assistance or 'martyr children' " (538). Saying that, woman does not necessarily have a maternal instinct. Even if woman were not forced to give birth, they too can leave their children to death, for example "a mother refused to call a doctor for her daughter in the name of unconditional submission to God's will" (538). Therefore, not all mothers have this maternal instinct, mothers differ from one another. This myth of motherhood is a false illusion that men gave in order to control woman and make them surrender under their rule. Men label woman as unfulfilled if they did not wish to be mothers. On the other hand, "research indicates that…the concept of maternal instinct has no support as a biologically based explanation for care giving, and both men and women have similar emotions related to nurturing" (Brannon 214).
Beauvoir argues that life is a choice, what we choose to be we become. She also believes that one is born free from all societal, religious, political and economic restrictions and have the right to choice and decide as she said, " no biological, psychical or economic destiny defines the figure that human female takes on in society"(293). This philosophical doctrine that Beauvoir believed in is called existentialism, "A philosophical theory or approach which emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will" (Oxford Dictionary). To exist means to have the possibility of taking decisions and selecting options without any limitations reinforced upon us. It means having an independent mind and choosing without fear. Existentialism means respecting other minds and ideas. Therefore, to exist on earth means to liberate from societal restrictions.
There are two kinds of people in this world, those who blindly accept reality and try to fit in this world and those who are ready to build their own reality. It is a matter of choice, either taking control of your mind or letting your mind to control you. When explaining existentialism Kierkegaard said: "For the purpose of becoming (and it is the task of the self freely to become itself) possibility and necessity are equally essential just as infinitude and finitude" (Kierkegaard 35). Every human should be aware of himself and should know how to define himself. To define one's self, it is easier to compare it to its opposite. The opposite of a male is a female. The opposite of the subject is the object. The opposite of the superior is inferior. Beauvoir states, " Woman does not think of herself without a man… she determines and differentiates herself in relation to man, and he does not in relation to her, she is the inessential in front of the essential. He is the Subject; he is the Absolute. She is the other" (6). Comparing to explain does not make one term lesser in value than the other while evaluating does. When using the terms 'women' and 'men' here we are comparing to clarify. Two opposite terms do not mean that one is better than the other; when comparing and contrasting there are both similarities and differences. The differences among two things is what makes uniqueness. Yet, saying that a woman is the opposite of a man is partly true but what is a woman? A woman could not be everything a man is not! A woman could not be a man's shadow or his negative. To woman being a feminist "means that it is best for woman to choose how to be women, whether that means going to college and working outside the home or working in the home and raise children, whether it means heterosexual desire or lesbian, driving truck or baking cookies, wearing a pink dress or wearing jeans, studying physics or French, or any combination of these" (Parker 159-60). Those women who accept defining themselves by themselves are the ones who are able to create their own reality.
Kierkegaard, the father of existentialism, explained finitude as those people who " use their talents, accumulate money, carry on worldly affairs, calculate shrewdly, etc., are perhaps mentioned in history, but themselves they are not; spiritually understood, they have no self, no self for whose sake they could venture everything, no self before God -- however selfish they may be for all that. " (Kierkegaard 35). This could be related to women who believe that they are predestined in a certain position and that reality is the final truth. Woman in the finitude believe that everything has a cause including every single act whether good or bad. Everything that we are and that happens to us is fate, meaning that if women were rated in a certain way this is because they are predestined to be so. Women are predestined to cook, raise the children, clean the house, and please the entire family. When doing those tasks, they forget themselves and who they are and as a result has no self. What we believe in is created by us, humans therefore all humans, both males and females have no predetermined essence. Men are the ones who benefit from the finitude for they like women to be kept that way under societal restrictions. Kierkegaard explained infinitude as "if possibility outruns necessity, the self runs away from itself, so that it has no necessity where to it is bound to return -- then this is the despair of possibility. but does not budge from the spot, nor get to any spot " (Kierkegaard 36). Those kinds of people are the ones who try to find their essence but eventually gain many experiences thus not a final self. This implies for women more than men for women try to explain themselves through many experiences and also through the theory feminism. Unlike the finite, in the infinite people have free will to choose their position in life. In the end, Possibility and necessity are equally important, for a person to define himself first s/he must undergo many experiences and second the self should be determined by the world. Saying that, her statement "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman" means gender does not matter, what matters is what the society makes of you or how you create your own gender and most importantly self. It is all a matter of choice; you are the one who choose to be in the finitude or the infinitude position.
Furthermore, "Existentialist characteristically deny the validity of supposedly overarching, objective or pre-existing structures that might lend antecedent meaning to human experience. In itself, human experience is radically meaningless, and it acquires meaning and value only through subjective acts of choice and decision" (Stewart 166). Men view 'subjectivity' as non-valid judgments because it interferes with one's own decisions. They prefer being objective; being objective means getting rid of our emotions, memories, heritage and ethics, and instead focusing on the theme of the subject itself. Being objective implies making judgments without being narrowed for a specific opinion. To men, judgments is based on scientific evidence or looking at facts. Men failed to recognize that experience and the self are inseparable, for what we interpret is based on how we think. Similarly, Sartre believes that 'existence precedes essence'. After human beings were born to this planet then everything else was put into place. In other words, humans are the ones who build and shape the world and not vice versa. Sartre coined two words "in-itself" and "for-itself". Being "in-itself" means "consciousness must be for Sartre nothing but a revealing intuition of things, the being of which everywhere"(Sartre 24). It is as accepting everything as it is plus being unaware of the self. Being "For-itself" is the opposite of being "in-itself", it is when a person become conscious of the unconscious. Women are being 'for-itself' when men label them as being 'in-itself'.
Men assure that woman are subjective and men are objective when thinking. On the other hand, they claim that women are the 'objects' and they are the 'subjects'. By doing that they are imposing their opinions on woman, back again to the idea of patriarchal ideology. But, how could humans define themselves as objects and subjects? How is it possible for a person to label himself as superior than others? How could a person claims that he is objective if most of what we learn comes from subjective experience? Can reality be independent without referring back to subjective experiences? To answer these questions first we need to categorize reality. According to Steven Joshua, reality is divided into five parts:
"Absolute- Logic of God (Truth\ Laws of creation)
Actual- Logic of physical (Truths, laws of science and math) the metaphysical (The correction and the mirror)
Individual- Logic of our being and is a combination of all of the above and below (truths\laws of being)
Consensual- Logic of agreement (truths\ laws of man)
Imaginary: Logic of illogic (truths\laws of the unreal)" (Joshua 112).
The Absolute and Actual realities as Joshua explains are 'independent' and can 'stand-alone'. He further explains that the Individual, Consensual, and Imaginary are 'dependent' and 'cannot stand alone'. The Consensual and the Imaginary "are derived from the people that have influenced us, who and where we hang out, with group beliefs, our choices, etc.". Men assert that when affirming that women are the other or the subject, that is because they view themselves in the Absolute and Actual position. Their Absolute position would be supported by the story of Adam and Eve, where Eve attracted Adam to eat from the forbidden tree therefore both were put out from the Garden of Eden. As a result, because of Eve all woman today bear children with pain "woman retain less calcium salt and eliminate it during menstruation and pregnancy; the ovaries seem to have a catabolic action concerning calcium; this instability leads to disorders in the ovaries and in the thyroid…" (Beauvoir 44). Their Actual position would be proofed by the biological data in the story of Adam and Eve too, "Genesis story symbolizes, where Eve appears as drawn from Adam's 'supernumerary' bone… Humanity is a male, and man defines woman, not in herself, but in relation to himself…" (Behavior 5). Moreover, as Beauvoir explains women "has much less muscular force; about two-thirds that of man; she has less respiratory capacity…women are less robust, more apt to be anemic" (Beauvoir 44).
While men think that they are in the Absolute and Actual position, they are really in the Consensual and Imaginary position. They are in the Consensual position because all agree during pregnancy, women become heavy to hunt, fish, or participate in many activities. And after giving birth women sat at home to take care of the children, ''Women's absurd fertility kept her from participating actively in the growth of these resources. … so it was man who controlled balance between reproduction and production'' (Beauvoir 74). This fact is agreed upon both men and woman. Nevertheless, this is not a stuffiest reason to prove that woman are weak and male should be dominating, it is just how the biological body works. Joshua explains that "The problem with Consensual reality is that if someone disagrees the reality falls apart. That person could be considered a threat to the Consensual reality" (Joshua 110). True that women need help when pregnant or after birth but that help does not necessarily have to come out from men! Thus, how men programmed woman in needing them is nothing but a false reality.
The last part of reality is the Imaginary or the logic of the illogic, " includes fiction books, deception, politics, thoughts, dreams, imagination and a significant amount of entertainment. In all of these, there is some form of actuality involved to sustain it. The actualities can be put together in inaccurate sequences or they can be assembled to give the illusion of one thing when it is really another" (Joshua 111). It is where men create myths to hold power over woman. It is where men create false realities and believe them as true to sustain their position, "and even when the ovum was recognized as an active principle, men continued to pit its inertia against the agility of the sperm" (Beauvoir 26). Men are kept in that position not because of the power they hold but because women allow them to. Woman are always searching for that perfect knight who is able to make their life easier, men view this as them holding authority and being the dominant "Representation of the world like the world itself, is the work of men, they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with absolute truth" (Scholz 71). A woman looks for a man who opens the car door for her, who gives her his seat in public places, and who let her in line in front of her when she is at the grocery store. Women view these as romance while men view all of this as weakness of women. When a man opens a door for a woman that is because he wants to show that he is in charge of every step she takes. When allowing women to line in front of them or when giving his place to her, this is because he views women as weak and is unable to stand and wait like men. He is patient and she is not or in other words, he is active and she is the passive.
By nature, men like to impose their rule to feel manly. Thus, this behavior enforces to view men as the ones who are being subjective for they are the ones who wrote down the patriarchal gender roles of how men and woman should act. To them "men are supposed to be strong (physically powerful and emotionally stotic)…it is considered unmanly for a man to show fear…" (Tyson 87-88). Fear is an emotion that occurs in all human beings and is not restricted to one gender. There are many types of fears and each human does have his own fears. One cannot be defined as weak for showing fear. This is how the man's mind works, if a man showed fear then he is a woman. Men structured that because they want to show woman how strong they are and also because they want to prove to women that they can be trusted and all that they are doing is to defend and protect women. By this, men are fabricating an identity on women as well as make women subordinate to them. If women allowed it, then there are defining themselves as dependent. If not, then they are protecting their identity and reflecting their true selves; that is, there is no specific image of femininity.
This research aim is not to attack men but to clarify some points that men use against women. In the end both are human being, and both are similar but different. They are different because of the biological facts (x and y) chromosomes that no one could not deny. Though humans are different biologically yet they are free to make choices of their gender. On the other hand, both sexes are equally important "The two sexes are necessary for each other, but this necessity has never fostered reciprocity; women have never constituted a caste establishing exchanges and contracts on an equal footing with men" (Beauvoir 451-452). This could be explained by Sartre's situated freedom and Hegel's slave and master example. A master and a slave is just as the male and female. A master is the one who has the power to control but over who? If there is no slave, then there is no master. Saying that a master has the power does not mean that the slave is powerless and unaware of the situation around him, "now women have always been, if not man's slave, at least his vassal; the two sexes have never divided the world up equally; and still today, even though her condition is changing, women is heavily handicapped" (Beauvoir 9). But, just as any painter who chooses which colors to paint his drawings, dark or light, one is free to choose the way s/he wants to live their life. "The slave in chains is free to break them; this means that the very meaning of his chains will appear to him in the light of the end which he will have chosen: to remain-a-slave or to risk the worst in order to get rid of his slavery" (Sartre 562-563, 703). Having the decision to be free from everything makes one stronger to plan his life the way he sees it. Allowing oneself to be a slave means staying in a position that is not yours. Freedom is not an additional characteristic that humans gain through experience, it is born with us. To be free means to free the mind. We are what we think.
To conclude, from ancient times, women were defined as the other. Many societies defined women since birth and label them, as a result stereotyped them into something they are not. The domestic work that is assigned for women could also be performed by men because roles should be assigned by social conditions and not some biological difference. Gender is a choice, and even by plastic surgery sex is a choice nowadays. Beauvoir, Sartre, Hegel and many other writers' views on freedom were essential to explain the statement "One is not born, rather becomes a woman".
Works Cited
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Excerpted from Being and Nothingness, translated by Hazel Barnes [NY: Washington Square Press, 1992 (1956)], pp. 562-563, 703.)
http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/
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