Gender and the Second Sex - Term Paper Example

Cultural Studies   Why did the murder committed by Papin Sisters or serial killing by Aileen Wuornos did so much of attention? Elements of graphic violence which was found in the act of murder done by Papin sisters or serial killing by Aileen Wuornos is not something new that the society witnessed for the first time. Still such acts of crime did draw exceptional attention from the media. At the same psychological condition of these convicts became subjects of study, elucidating postmodern philosophical and psychosexual discourses. One of the main reasons that acts of crime committed by these women victims have become subjects of great concern from social perspective is that they were women. Through such acts they not only exhibited such moral standpoint that completely violated the preconceived notion of morality from perspective of a woman but also they clearly defied the established norms of social patriarchy regarding womanhood. These two examples, consequently, also elucidate the fact that in socio-cultural context media always plays a great role in developing image of a gender at the psychical level of the people. It is mainly due to the role played by media that common people have developed a perception regarding dos and don’ts of an individual, mainly depending on gender classification rather than focusing on the person’s entity as a human being. While reflecting over her understanding about gender, especially definition of women in the society, Simone de Beauvoir has started her discussion by pondering over the definition of a woman as it has been in the social context, “…first we must ask: what is a woman? ‘Tota mulier in utero’, says one, ‘woman is a womb.’ But in speaking of certain women, connoisseurs declare that they are not women, although they are equipped with a uterus like the rest.”1 As the society is essentially dominated by male patriarchy, thus, it observes women as a source of child production. Gender discrimination in the society has reached to such an extent that women have lost their human entity only to be recognized as an organ of human physiology. In this context Simone de Beauvoir’s observation, fused with irony, compels us to realize to which extent the evil of gender discrimination has expanded its scope, “All agree in recognising the fact that females exist in the human species; today as always they make up about one half of humanity. And yet we are told that femininity is in danger; …. 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.”2 Foucault, Feminist Discourse and Gender:       The main area of feminist discussion in the Western context was, “That women are sex, that they represent the body side of the mind/body dualism ….”3 Again, “Foucault’s approach deconstructs this dualism, redefining sexuality and its truth….Foucauldian-inspired feminists have not, however, tried to move “woman” to the other side of the dichotomy by claiming that women are just as rational as men. Rather they have attempted to subvert the categories that define women inferiority.”4 However, the scope of Foucault’s philosophical discourse has been restricted through biased approach of those feminists who claim to be inspired by his observation about feminism. The main reason for such bias is that the apprehended role of women in the social context has so deeply been integrated with the social psychology that deviation from that is mostly discouraged. The mythified role of women actually determines position of a woman in the society; consequently, it also denies her identity as a human being. Foucault stressed over all those aspects that can deconstruct the social myths about women and take them out of the realm of the roles that society has imposed over them. Various aspects about sexism and interpretation of women, depending entirely on their physical identity have repeatedly been emphasized in Foucault’s philosophical discourse. Foucault, being one of the major poststructuralists and deconstructionists in the field has attempted to destroy all the myths that were actually focused toward female body politic. Reason or questioning is the only way to deconstruct the myth that has developed regarding female body politic.       According to Foucault, in Western social discourse, observation of women essentially as a body or an embodiment of “sex” has been resulted due to prevailing repression of sex in the society. In his essay, “We “Other Victorians”” he has identified psychical structure of the modern people quite similar to that of the Victorians and has explained clearly the consequences of sexual repression, “If sex is repressed … condemned to prohibition, non-existence and silence, then the mere fact that one is speaking about it has the appearance of a deliberate transgression. A person who holds forth in such language places himself to a certain extent outside the reach of power; he upsets established law; he somehow anticipates the coming freedom. This explains the solemnity with which one speaks of sex nowadays.”5 Such sexual obsession in the modern society, thus, becomes quite normal if we see it from Foucault’s perspective. Sex is a spontaneous, natural and biological activism; repression of which does not benefit the society but rather gnaws it from inside and that is what is actually happening in the modern social context. On one hand the society celebrates and speaks on behalf of exploration of the fundamental rights of the people but repression against expression of sexuality actually expresses the hypocritical nature of the society. Foucault has attempted to deconstruct such hypocritical social existence, “… my aim is to examine the case of a society which has been loudly castigating itself for its hypocrisy for more than a century … promise to liberate himself from the very laws that have made it function.”6 Compared to same as that of the 18th century, today also an individual becomes subject to social supervision if he/she freely expresses his/her libertarian mentality regarding acts of sexual involvement, “In the 18th century, sex became a “police” matter – in the full and strict sense given the term at the time: not the repression of disorder, but an ordered maximization of collective and individual forces …. A policing of sex: that is, not the rigor of a taboo, but the necessity of regulating sex though useful and public discourses.”7 It becomes clear from such observation that no matter how much modern people claim themselves to be socially advanced and intellectually enlightened but the whole process actually involves a great deal of hypocrisy because most of us have not yet been able to respect our human nature. The murder by Papin sisters may be supposed to be a result of such “policing of sex by the society and Jacques Lacan’s “psychoanalytic reading of paranoia” also supports Foucault’s approach in this context. Lacan, through his psychoanalysis, has stressed over the aspect of strong emotional attachment between these two sisters. Aftermath he also has drawn reference from Freud’s observation regarding paranoia, which has actually resulted from “repressed homosexual desire.”8 His analysis suggests, “The sisters exhibit perfect symptoms of paranoid psychoanalysis born of repressed homosexual desire.”9 However, expression of sexual desire towards the same sex is widely forbidden by the patriarchal social construction and the sisters have violated such norm. This is also clear from Christine’s confession in prison that “Sometimes I think in former lives I was my sister’s husband.”10. Therefore, they automatically have become subjects of attraction from the media.       It is interesting to observe that compared to preconceived notion of feminist approach, Foucault and his philosophical discourse emerged as a matter of great importance as, he interpreted the aspect of femininity from different dimensions and it actually helped in deconstructing the conventional interpretation of women at the societal plain. Foucault also emphasized over the aspect that no matter how much women have attempted to make up their separate identity but such attempts have always been restricted or limited within the scope as it has been determined by patriarchy. The disciplinary actions performed by women are actually aimed at making them more vulnerable before the patriarchal section of the society. In this context Foucault’s illustration about a female bodybuilder is a great example, which actually elaborates such picture of femininity that is completely against conventional social norms. Such unconventional form of femininity is considered as a source that would challenge “the accepted, conventional norms of the stereotypical female body,” which also has been referred as “Foucauldian resistance.”11 In this context Foucault has focused over the connection that exists between sexuality, power, performing conventional disciplines and subjectivity, “The relationships among power, disciplines, discourse, and subjectivity are complex. Disciplines produce subjects; subjects are the effect of power. In turn, disciplines, discourses, and power are each themselves complex; power is relational, discourses are polyvalent, and disciplines are multifarious.”12 Power, Society and Interpretation of Gender        The main reason for gender discrimination, even exercising acts of violence against opposite gender however, clearly stresses on one aspect that despite introduction as well as cultivation of different liberal thoughts, it has actually not been possible for the male patriarchy to accept women at par with them or to regard them as human beings. On the other hand, cultivation of such feminist spirit, development of new ideas regarding femininity finally led women to such situation where they have learnt to associate themselves with their male counterparts. All these days, the socially conceptualized image dominated their free spirit and individuality. Women have learnt to keep aside that aspect and strived really hard to claim for equal social recognition same as that of the males. Thus, the whole situation leads to a scenario where one section of human civilization is not ready to sacrifice; rather share the kind of social status, superiority and dominance that they have enjoyed till date. On the other hand the oppressed, trivialized and unrecognized part have learnt to recognize them as essential social ingredients, same as their male counterparts and stood upright to fight for their rights as women, and human beings.       Exhibition of violent conflict between men and women is pervasive in the contemporary society and it also seems that people derive a kind of either sadistic or sadomasochistic pleasure out of such acts of violence. Media, consequently, under a disguise of spreading awareness against such acts has actually represented these things to propagate the torture inflicting pleasure-seeking mentality of the common people, especially of the young generation. Both in postmodern philosophical and psychological discourse, acts of violence and different methods of violence are receiving special attention from the intellectuals. Elizabeth Anne Stanko defines violence as, “The meanings of violence are multiple, complex, and often contradictory” in spite of the fact that the media and politicians invariably offer us self-evident interpretations of violence involving “two prominent players-one an evil perpetrator, the other an innocent victim.”13       Such prevailing yet encompassing observation clearly divides the whole society into two parts, one side of which comprises of those people who will inflict the acts of violence (“evil perpetrator”) and the other side contains those who will suffer consequences of such acts of violence (“an innocent victim”). If we attempt to get a proper conclusion or a set of ideas that would define such act of violence committed by one section of people or a particular gender on others, there will not be any specific categorization. The section of “evil preparatory” will comprise of both males and females; however, proportionately number of females is higher than that of their male counterparts. In this society the aspect of representation of a gender often plays a pivotal role and construction of gender-oriented concept gets embedded in the mass psyche. In this context, media plays a very crucial role as it comes to representation. It is the media that represents women, not as self-sufficient entities but as mere docile bodies or vulnerable creatures that are subjects to torture, inflicting pain and endless enduring power. On the contrary, men are represented as essentially macho and have the great power to dominate over others. In this context also Foucault’s reflection over power and body also becomes relevant as though his philosophical discourse he has emphasized over the relation between realization of power and exploration of body politic and realization of representation.       The sense of male superiority, which has been conferred to them by the society itself, automatically gives them an inherent right to exhibit power over an individual of opposite gender, both in physical and psychological context. However, actions of the Papin sisters and Aileen Wuornos clearly turn against such conventional process. Keeping aside the aspect of their violent actions against body politic from the perspective of universal humanism, they have actually been identified as convicts by the society as they have gone against conventional rules of traditional social construction. The media has also generated the sense of pervasive social antagonism implicitly as it has provided special attention to handle these incidents. Such observation clearly reintroduces us with the same question that has been asked many times before that whether these people are really criminals or we, the integral parts of the society, actually make a criminal out of them. Media and Representation of Gender: It is due to the presentation of gender through media, that people’s potentiality to work is assessed. Due to media presentation that execution of certain functions has also been interpreted according to the strength, mainly from the perspective of body politic of a human being. The acts of brutality that would exhibit physical power are only considered to be done by men. On the other hand, women are generally regarded as receptors of such acts of violence. In this context we can refer to traditional rape scripts or ideas that define women as powerless and they are only born to submit themselves in the hands of their male counterparts. Rape is considered socially as a heinous act that should be condemned strictly but postmodern philosophical discourse opines that such act is not premeditated or preconstituted. Women actually become momentarily victimized to such acts, “Rape does not happen to preconstituted victims; it monetarily makes victims. The rapist does not simply have the power to rape; the social script and the extent to which that script succeeds in soliciting its target’s participation help to create the rapist’s power. The rape script preexists instances of rape but neither the script nor the rape act results from or creates innumerable identities of rapist and raped. The script should be understood as a framework, a grid of comprehensibility which we might feel impelled to use as a way of organizing and interpreting events and actions.”14 However, acts of brutality or violation over body politic done by women are often considered to be a manly act and those women, who actually wish to live like men, commit such acts. In this regard such women can be considered as representing the same theme of Foucault’s female body builders, defying conventional social ideas about femininity. In this context we can cite examples of violence committed by women and that attained a great deal of media attention, such as, brutal murder committed by the Papin Sisters and serial killing by Aileen Wuornos. In case of the sisters, media focused over the aspect how both they have transformed from their traditional figure of femininity to male stubbornness that has cast a kind of evil shade on their personalities, which was absent during their tender phase of femininity. In case of Aileen Wuornos media represented her as a sexually predating figure and driven by such impulses she committed serial killing of her partners. Now, such role of domination or developing such an image of sexual predating is mostly common for male section of the society and women are supposed to be victimized by such male activism. In case of both Papin sisters and Aileen Wuornos the situation was entirely different. Consequently, emphasis over their behaviorist aspect, emphasis over psychological syndromes related to post traumatic stress and both analysis as well as interpretation of their psychosexual aspects towards equal and opposite gender elevated them to the level of patriarchal archetypes. Interesting to see that media has played the most important role behind such transformation of these three characters and their human impulses behind execution of such acts have widely been ignored. It is in this context Simone de Beauvoir has observed quite regrettably, “The horror of society’s grinding machine could only be exposed by a corresponding horror. The two sisters had made themselves the instrument and martyrs of a dark justice.”15 Conclusion: Pondering over the existing instances it becomes evident that media, in the modern society, has emerged essentially as a pervasive entity, with capacity to transform not only the existing socio-cultural ideas in a new manner but also represent those aspects exactly in the manner that it wishes to represent. The power of media creates myth or truth amidst our modern existence and we also perceive those accordingly, at least depending on our understanding of ongoing socio-cultural trends of existence. Men or women, despite their gender difference, are expected to be considered as human beings, not only certain entities that represent genders. One of the most important responsibilities of media is to free human minds from different kinds of bias to the extent of all possible limits. Unfortunately, in cases that represent a connection between, power, knowledge, understanding of representation and perception of body politic leading to sexuality, we understand that media has actually brought about development as well as firm construction of such ideas at the psychical level of the society. It is a matter of utmost importance that a human being must feel other individuals as human beings, not as embodiment of sexuality or source of pleasure. In the post modern context, however, despite all sorts of intellectual development and liberalization of through process, media is still dragging people within the realm of bias from where it is really hard for them to revive human enlightenment.                                                 Works Cited 1. Beauvoir, Simone de, “The Second Sex” (1949), available at: http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/2nd-sex/index.htm, retrieved on: 12th Sept. 2009 2. Beauvoir, Simone de, The Prime of Life, (Study Material) 3. Foucault, Michel, “The Repressive Hypothesis”, Practices and Knowledge, Study Material 4. Foucault, Michel, “We “Other Victorians”, Practices and Knowledge, Study Material 5. Hekman, Susan J., Feminist interpretations of Michel Foucault, Pennsylvania: Penn State Press, 1996 6. Lacan, Jacques, “Lacan’s Psychoanalytic reading of Paranoia”, (Study Material) 7. Marcus, Sharon, “Fighting Bodies, Fighting Words: A Theory and Politics of Rape Prevention”, Study Material 8. McLaren, Margaret A., Feminism, Foucault, and embodied subjectivity, New York: SUNY Press, 2002 9. Stanko, Elizabeth Anne, The meanings of violence, London: Routledge, 2003 Read More