The Second Sex

Summary
Beauvoir examines feminism and her feelings about views on woman. She discusses on how in the human species, there is “one” and there is “the other.” According to Beauvoir, man represents “one,” and woman represents “the other.” Woman is therefore relative to man. Until recently, woman was given little opportunity to excel and was oppressed by a masculine culture. The only power that a woman was perceived to have was sexually power, which seems demeaning in today’s culture. Presently, woman is still seen separately from man but with more equality. In other words, men and women are equal but different.

Reaction
I found the subject of Beauvoir’s introduction interesting but slightly redundant. I enjoy her examples relating as far back as the concept of Adam. In terms of Christianity, man was created before woman. I found Beauvoir’s writing style is appealing. She flows nicely from idea to the next and her explanations, although sometimes complex, are easily dissected by the reader. I do appreciate the ideas of her work, but I sometimes felt like she was just repeating the same point over and over again, just with different words. In the first few paragraphs, Beauvoir established that women are viewed as relative men, and she continually repeats this point throughout the piece.

Reflection
Being a woman myself, I did appreciate some of the ideas in Beauvoir’s piece more than the typical male probably would. One idea that I found particularly interesting examined opposites. One can not exist without the other. Truthfully, everything that exists within nature has a counterpart. With this in mind, who would want to be the other? No one wants to be second best, but according to Beauvoir’s examination women are the other. Unfortunately, people just simply think terms of one thing and its counter part, the other thing. In Beauvoir’s work she state, “Otherness is a fundamental category of human thought.” Perhaps it is time to break the mold of human thought and place everyone under one category.

Questions
How did Beauvoir’s views on feminism affect your views on feminism?
Can you think of examples of discrimination against women in today’s society?
Is there a solution to discrimination? Why or why not?