...Ashley Guthrie History 394-001 December 8, 2017 Final Paper Assignment A Conversation with Simone de Beauvoir INTRO PARAGRAPH? Ashley Guthrie: The Second Sex is by far your most influential work. One of the major themes found throughout the book is existentialism. What lead you to the belief in existentialism and a person’s free will, rather than the work of a higher being? SDB: Well part of it goes back to my upbringing. I grew up in a world dominated by rules. Rules that dictated everything you do, from how to act in social situations, how to address others, how to act in the political world. Everything in my life growing up was determined by strict rules determined by several generations of de Beauvoir’s. There was a time when I adored...
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...Simone de Beauvoir: Feminism and Existentialism Simone de Beauvoir talks about women through the eyes of an existentialist in her book The Second Sex. Specifically, de Beauvoir’s views on how woman is “man’s dependent” shows the Subject and the Other relationship, a solution she gives to abolishing the oppression of women is that we need to abandon the idea that women are born feminine, second, weaker and not made, and the responsibility that she puts on herself and women for accepting the roles given to them are all very existentialist ideas. Subjectivity as de Beauvoir uses it is created out of defining, or created roles for the people around you; it is a self given power. A man must be the ego, the subject, in order to do this and a woman must be the Other in order to accept this. While talking about existentialism in class we learned that people interact with each other by constantly switching from the subject to the object; I am at a stop light in my car looking at the people next to me, I am the subject until they look back at me, into my world, making judgments and what have you, and then I am the object, I am second, or the Other. I think the difference between how de Beauvoir uses it, is that women do not change from being the Other, or the second sex. In class we discussed that women who attempt to abandon their gender roles by becoming more like men, are simply mimicking them (in the workforce for example). But the act of trying to be something you are not promotes...
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...The Concept of the Outsider Literature often persecutes the most vulnerable, a person who lacks support and therefore power within society. Described by Terry Eagleton for The Guardian as the “literary mainstream”; these characters are often referred to as the Outsider due to their exclusion from the community in which the text is set. The characters who are referred to as Outsiders can be portrayed in different ways; their initial exclusion from society can ultimately lead to a narrative of their acquisition of power throughout the text but similarly, can portray a story of their maintenance of the minimal power they have over the course of the text’s plot. However, this is not to argue that some Outsiders presented within literature do not have power over the course of the development of the text so, as a consequence, remain excluded from the society. In this case, the text would then be considered an exposition of the character’s experience from their position in society rather than the author’s attempt of trying to integrate their character into society through their work. Furthermore, the author themselves may be considered an Outsider through their own status in society; they command their readers to be Outsiders themselves within the novel. As well as to read and observe the narrative in order to emulate the same feeling within themselves, within the reader or to have a specific impact on the issues surrounding humanity at the time. The contrast in the ways in which...
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...Assess the view that women are no longer oppressed by religion (18 marks) Feminism is a conflict theory similar to Marxism, except instead of the working class being oppressed by the bourgeoisie, feminists (such as Simone De Beauvoir) believe that society is patriarchal and that women are oppressed by men. Religion is often viewed as something which preserves this and ensures that women remain subordinate to men by believing that their suffering is meaningful and they’ll be rewarded in heaven after death. There are many examples of patriarchy in religion, both historic and current. However, there is also sociological evidence that challenges the idea that women are subordinate to men. As Item A states, the feminist view that religion is a force for ‘patriarchal oppression’ is ‘supported by evidence such as the differential treatment of women in religious congregations.’ Evidence of patriarchy in places of worship is apparent in the way that men and women are required to worship separately in many faiths, such as orthodox synagogues where the men and women cannot sit together, and in the Islam faith women must pray behind the men, implying that the men are more important. However, this is not consistent in every religion, as in Reform Judaism and Christianity both men and women may worship together. Similarly, women can be oppressed through patriarchy in religious organisations. Karen Armstrong (1993) said that women being excluded from religious leadership in many faiths...
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...Fighting for Equality SS310-12 April 29th, 2012 Feminism is defined as the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men (dictionary, 2012). The Feminist Movement that occurred in the 1960s was one of the most influential and life changing events that has happened throughout history. The last fight for equality that took place for females before this was during the early 1900s where women were fighting for the right to vote. It took 40 years for women to come together and fight for even more opportunities and rights that they deserved. This is one of the largest events that happened during this time and the event from the 1960s which has affected my life the most. The social and legal barriers before the Feminist movement of the 1960s suggested that women were second to men and were subordinate to men. A women’s place in life was to listen and obey. Women were discriminated against and exploited in the work place. They were denied the admittance to reproductive and sexual freedom (Goodwin, 1999). After a certain point, women had had enough. They began to join together and start fighting against the social norms and demanded equal rights because they will no longer be considered the “second sex”. Many laws were passed in the 1960s because of the fight these women went through. The first was The Equal Pay Act of 1963 (USA.GOV, 2012). The Equal Pay Act requires that men and women be given equal pay for equal work in the same...
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...production, distribution, and use of income, wealth, and commodities. Simone Beauvoir’s talks about women’s economic responsibilities very well. She uses many sources to support her statements. She states, “Furthermore, the women who seeks, independence through work has favorable possibilities than her masculine competitors. Her wages in most jobs are lower than those of men; her tasks are less specialized and therefore not so well paid as those of skilled laborers; and for equal work she does not get equal pay. Because of the fact that she is a newcomer in the universe of males, she has fewer chances for success than they have. Men and women alike hate to be under the orders of a woman; they always show more confidence in ma; to be a woman is, if not a defect, at least a peculiarity.” (Page 182-183 Paragraph 13). Even if women have the same job as a man the women will get paid less. This is just how the world works because men don’t like to be told what to do by a woman and women don’t like to be told what to do by another woman. Therefore, women will always be inferior when it comes to the economic part of equality. Mary Lowenthal Felstiner implies, “The Second Sex exposes male domination along with female helplessness and complicity until your heart is sick for the future that started growing in such a past. Right now it does not meet all our needs...
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...Janese Grice Dr. Lund 2302 English 05/02/2016 Becoming a Woman In Simone de Beauvoir's book, ‘The Second Sex' she states that one is not born a woman but rather becomes one. The author strives to distinguish between gender and sex and suggests that gender is an aspect of identity which is gradually obtained. Over the years, the distinction between sex and gender has been a major debate and crucial for the long-standing feminist effort to debunk the purported claim that anatomy is destiny. Sex is understood in this case as the invariant, and distinct anatomical aspects of the female body whereas gender can be described as the cultural meaning and form that the body acquires. With the distinction between sex and gender intact, it is not possible to attribute the social functions of women to the biological necessity. The presumption that exists between the difference between sex and gender is undermined. For this reason, authors Beauvoir, Ibsen, Rhys, and Del Toro tries to differentiate the two and explains that one becomes a woman and not born as one. The Philosophy of Gender According to the existentialist philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir, it is not nature which determines the life of an individual, but rather their social circumstances and personal choices. For Beauvoir, the aspects of race, gender, and other biological categories are socio-historical constructs that have the option of being challenged. The first thing that happens when a child is born is to determine...
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...Women Empowerment – A Reflection in the ------------------------------------------------- Poems of “Mumbai Mirror” Eunice De Souza Mrs.A MATHINI1, R.EZHILARASI2* 1 Assistant Professor, Dept. of English, SCSVMV University, Enathur, Kancheepuram (India). ------------------------------------------------- 2 Research Scholar, Dept. of English, SCSVMV University, Enathur, Kancheepuram (India). INTRODUCTION: Women’s Empowerment is a global issue in determining the status of women. The position and status of women all over the world has risen incredibly in the 20th century. It may be because of the awareness among women. We know that it has been very low in 18th & 19th centuries in India and other Countries. Women were treated like “objects”. In the name of marriage they can be bought and sold. Their dependence on men folk was total. But now women started to learn the possible ways to be independent in the society. Their monetary independence led them to the way to empowerment. Robert Blood (1965) observes, “Employment emancipates women from domination by their Husbands and secondarily, raises their Daughters from inferiority to their Brothers” (Blood and Wolfe, 1965). According to Dr. Nafi’s Sadik, the former Executive Director of UNFPA “Women are the heart of development”. Women are the agent to bring about better lives for billions of people in the developing countries as well as developed countries to bring sustainable development. The main...
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...inferior to men. During his life he had have sex with many women, but one day he met Denise who is a 19 year old girl from NYU. They both start their own sexual relationship and he describes her as a girl not to feminine instead, somehow she was a "boy". During their sexual meetings he start to get too concerned about his masculinity, because he was not able to take Denise to her orgasm, but Denise made him have an early ejaculation. At the end he finally tell us that she got her orgasm and he feels very filled after that, and he treats her like something he finally won; but he did not win anything because she tells him that he didn't do nothing he just confirmed his homosexuality. In "From the Second Sex", Simone de Beauvoir explains us how our world other women from men. Simone tells us in her article that there is no reason to other people, because we are reciprocal, she also tell us that the past stereotype of woman is no longer accepted by society because nowadays, a woman look better if she has a tan, like a man who is exposed to sun the whole day. Also, in "time of her time" we cannot know in theory if Denise got the orgasm or not because the one who is telling the story is Sergius. We can use these two articles to make society know how othering is not right because as Denise told Sergius that he was “homosexual” she was trying to make him realize that a woman do not depend on a men to be full. That for instance she had some characteristics that made her a boy while...
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...Women Today, Tomorrow and the Future Society has many imperfections. It oppresses people and causes them to think only in the ways it approves of. Society causes generalizations to become into a reality. In Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender, Respected Scholar, Judith Lorber discusses the importance society places on the issue of gender. She talks about how society contributes to assigning gender. Society sets guidelines from what we should expect from women. People are not objects with roles and should not be chosen by another gender or by society. Respected author Alan Johnson believes in the same thing but concentrates on the idea of personal identity and fulfillment in regards to race and gender roles in his book, Privilege, Power & Difference. The advertising world is one of the reasons why women base their role on what they want to be in life and how they are portrayed in society. The commercials like the DiGiorno Pizza and Burger King “It Will Blow Your Mind Away” show how women in society are viewed in an entirely different perspective by the advertising world. Women should not be considered in a passive role, and should possess the ability to go out and take charge of their lives, otherwise society will continue to believe are only good for certain trivial functions. In the DiGiorno commercial, both genders are stereotyped into traditional gender roles as the men are seen relaxing outside while viewing sports and the woman is seen heading in her home...
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...Oppression Gender Studies February 13, 2012 Women experience oppression everyday in our society, most women don’t even know it is happening to them because we have been socialized to believe it is ok; today I would like to share an example of oppression that has happened to me. My argument is that women are oppressed in the oilfield industry. In 1999, just shortly after graduating from the MH College I was unemployed looking for work. At the time (my now husband) was the rig manager for a small drilling company, he was having issues with employees (men) showing up for work. One day he asked if I could help out and drive a truck and trailer to a lease site, without hesitation I did. The next week he was still short handed and I offered to go to work as the Roughneck. My argument to him was I was fit, a hard worker, I needed the money, and I would be on time and I was familiar with the rig. He hesitated but agreed and I became an employee. The workers showed me what the duties of a roughneck where. For the next six days; I drove truck, controlled the pipe arm, carried blocks, and ate with the men. I also organized the tools and dog house, as the roughneck should. When the rig manager submitted time to the office he got a call from his boss, the boss asked who “Phyllis” is. The rig manager explained who I was and why I was out there in the first place but the boss told him to fire me immediately, “Get her off the lease!” After work I was told...
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...some way we are all “others” to someone, and everyone else is “other” to us. We can never fully know the other, and even if we strive to do so, “the other” is constantly changing. At the same time, there can be no “I” without a relation to and a concept of the other. We need something that in some degree is different from ourselves to actually constitute a self. When we “other” another group, we point out their perceived weaknesses to make ourselves look stronger or better. It implies a hierarchy, and it serves to keep power where it already lies. Almost everything we say or do consists of othering in some way, whether we may realize it or not. The most commonly used form of this is to other by ones gender. (female vs. male). Simone de Beauvoir wrote a wonderful piece called The Second Sex and in it she states that “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” . What an orthodox one would imagine this to be. However, this quote alone summarizes human nature. Everything, how one must dress, walk, talk, and even breathe has been set to certain standards that are to be met regardless of what the individual may wish to be. Men have always had the upper hand in every subject. They have it all, it is always the woman competing against herself to please the desires of the men she is surrounded by. Everything comes down to what society perceives as perfection and we all can assume that these societal rules were made by man as well. After all no man has to worry about the...
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...unclean thus polluting holy places for example they cannot touch the Qur’an or enter the Mosques when menstruating. Another reason for gender inequality is that women are seen as a distraction – their presence may distract men from their more important role of worship. Holm goes on to describe some of the inequalities within different religions ( Japanese folk religions says that women are responsible for organising public rituals but only men can take part in public performances). * This is a form of sexual apartheid – separating women from men for example women are often confined to the balcony or behind a screen in synagogues. * Stained glass ceiling – a term used to describe women’s position in the Church of England * Simone De Beauvoir argues religion can be used by men to control women and also serves to compensate women for their second class status. * Men have generally exercised control over religious...
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...examine the ambiguity of freedom we need to understand the basic element of respect for other’s freedoms as we respect our own. Even though this is a general notion relating to humanity it can be specified in parts just as Simone De Beauvoir says in one of her main thesis that we all need one another in order to have freedom. With this, she implies a sub-thesis that we are both subject and object. She elaborates this by addressing the idea that we have the freedom to choose how we act, think and respect others as well as ourselves. To sum it up, this is clearly an existentialist view because it entertains the idea that individuals and humans as a whole make their own essence and have a choice in who they want to be. Now, as far as us being of an object, this idea is because even in our freedom we are limited by our body and social constraints. This idea of us being of both subject and object is where one of the ambiguities arises according to De Beauvoir; therefore I will elaborate more on both the idea of our freedom and our limitations, and explain why I agree that it is important to understand De Beauvoir’s notion of the importance of other’s freedoms. She states “we see that no existence can be validly fulfilled if it is limited to itself” (De Beauvoir, 67). By this, she means that we need other’s to bring meaning to everything we do. For example, when I graduate CSUN, it would not be an accomplishment if society did not acknowledge the value of a college degree. The...
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...Her childhood brought her neglect and void of love. Her family did not support her in getting an education. She married a man who could be as old as her grandfather. She ran away and became a prostitute. Firdaus gave that up and tried to be a “respectful women” by working at an office. After being played by men again, she returned back to her old occupation. In the end, nothing was ever right in her life and chose death in order to escape it. This novel is perfect example for a lot of previous written essays on women studies. Essays such as The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, The Traffic in Women by Gayle Rubin, and The BITCH Manifesto by Jo Freeman addresses the issues and theories presented in Women at Point Zero. Women in the novel are treated similarly to de Beauvoir’s description of the “second sex”. The men in Firdaus’s society sets themselves up as the “Subject, he is the Absolute”, while the women as “the other” (de Beauvior, 33). Most of the women in the novel are treated as servants or slaves by their husbands. The women must prepare meals for them, take care of the house, raise his children, and give him sexual pleasure. Firdaus explains how her father would always have supper. Her mother would always have food for him, even if it meant starving her children. “My mother would hide his food from us” (Saadawi, 18). If things don’t go accordingly to her father, like having a son die, he would beat up his wife. Firdaus’s father knew “how to beat his wife and make her bite...
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