Political Theories of Sexuality: Simone de Beauvoir on the Woman as Other in Men's Representation - Coursework Example

Simone de Beauvoir on the Woman as ‘Other’ in Mens Representation The relationship between sex and gender is of interest to many researchers. Scientists are trying to understand whether there is a relationship between biological sex and gender, and whether it is possible to equate these concepts. Simone Beauvoir offers an interesting concept. She seems to occupy a middle position between those who deny the link between sex and gender and those who fiercely defend it. According to her opinion, the biological feature of the male body allows men to automatically receive gender status as men: “a man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is man” (Beauvoir, The Second Sex 15). Unlike men, women do not have such a possibility. The author draws attention to the fact that “one is not born a woman, but becomes one.” This means that, despite the uniqueness of the female body, women can become women only as a result of submission to established cultural norms and traditions in relation to femininity. A woman must prove that she is a woman and this is only possible if her behavior, appearance and even lifestyle will fit the male ideas of an “ideal” woman. Thus, according to De Beauvoir, feminine is not independent and depends on the preferences of men. Men determine the ideal of femininity that in turn makes the existence of women full of restrictions and abuses on the part of men in different areas of their lives. Beauvoir starts her research by regarding the stereotypes in relation to biological differences between men and women. It allows Beauvoir concluding that in a human society a womans body is considered as defective and limited, while the male body is always characterized positively. In fact, men see their bodies as having a perfect set of features for a happy life. In contrast to man, the “woman has ovaries, a uterus: these peculiarities imprison her in her subjectivity, circumscribe her within the limits of her own nature” (15). As the author notes, this stereotype in relation to the female body completely ignores the fact that the male body also has a number of physiological characteristics that define its functioning and, therefore, are specific limiters (15). In particular, similar to women, men have organs that produce a variety of hormones, including sex hormones. While the male body is regarded in a positive way as capable of connecting man with nature, the female body is seen as “as a hindrance, a prison, weighed down by everything peculiar to it” (15). Thus, a woman does not have a possibility to rely on her biological characteristics as an argument in favor of her femininity. The significance and high status of the female body is being denied. As a result, women are forced to find other ways to be recognized as women. In particular, women must conform to notions of femininity that exist in a given society. In turn, these perceptions are largely due to the fact that men perceive women through the opposition “Self - Other.” Beauvoir insists on the idea that modern society exists within the opposition between masculinity (“the Self”) and femininity (“Other”). The Other is treated as a foreign object, which should be subordinated to the authorities of the Self. Within this framework, the Self if represented by a man, while the Other - by a woman. In other words, a man sees a woman as his Other, which should be subordinated to his authority. Men may think of themselves without women, and women cannot do it. As a result, the woman “is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential” (16). Beauvoir notes that the existence of an opposition between Self and Other is determined by the characteristics of human thought, which contrasts the different objects: “Good and Evil, lucky and unlucky auspices, right and left, God and Lucifer” (17). The feature of this structure is that each of the elements considers its opponent as Other. The problem is that the concept of Other applies only to women, while it should apply to men as well. For some reasons, women do not seek to provide effective resistance against this system, while continuing to remain dependent on men. The author focuses on the practice of discrimination in the modern world. It is related to the fact that negative attitudes towards women and femininity cause certain social unspoken rules and regulations that limit the ability of women in various areas of their lives. Beauvoir points to the slavish dependence of women on men and insists that “at the present time, when women are beginning to take part in the affairs of the world, it is still a world that belongs to men - they have no doubt of it at all and women have scarcely any” (21). Discriminatory practices against women lead to the fact that men receive higher wages, take more long-term positions, and generally get much more opportunities for their self-development within the framework of modern society. Considering all of the above, Beauvoir asserts that A man would never set out to write a book on the peculiar situation of the human male. But if I wish to define myself, I must first of all say: I am a woman; on this truth must be based all further discussion. A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is man (15). Beauvoir gives a lot of evidence to suggest that a woman has always been subordinated to men, and men determined the gender status of women. In particular, Beauvoir analyzes the historical past of mankind. Beauvoir notes that in times of primitive societies women had some social weight and importance as they were responsible for gathering the fruits, plants, etc. Given that the main task of primitive people was to survive, the role of women had a higher value for the survival of a tribe. Nevertheless, with the development of tools that allowed men to hunt, the situation began to change dramatically. Further emergence and development of scientific technology have made it possible for men to consolidate their power over women, whose role has been reduced to childbearing and domestic responsibilities. “With the advent of patriarchy, the male resolutely claimed his posterity” (24). Patriarchal society strengthened the idea that man is the creator for his family and his children, while a woman should perform a secondary role as his faithful companion and wife. Despite the fact that the main mission of women was reduced to their physiological obligations in terms of the conception and birth of children, even this situation did not allow women to acquire the female status based on their biological differences from men. Motherhood as the primary biological destiny of women cannot help women receive their freedom as human beings. Motherhood does not give superiority to women, because it still remains the biological function of women (73). In other words, “nature does not define woman: it is she who defines herself by reclaiming nature for herself in her affectivity” (49). Practical oppression of women took place on a par with religious, philosophical and scientific ideas about the value of women and female. Since ancient times, women were seen as the object which should be subordinate to men, because they were attributed qualities such as passivity, inertia, confusion, weakness and infirmity. Even philosophers-humanists such as Aristotle viewed women as passive matter, which can be fertilized by an active male principle (25). The same representation of women and even worse can be seen in religious and mythological traditions of various cultures. In particular, Greek mythology considered the Mother Earth as the chaos that is devoid of order and full of dark and ugly monsters, creatures of the Goddess of the Earth (165). Christian tradition also demonstrates a negative attitude towards women by an example of the myth of the Fall. Eve is seen as the main culprit in the Fall of people because she persuaded Adam to bite the forbidden apple (185). Even many scientific studies have demonstrated contempt for the female body and its organs, seeing it only as pale shadows of the male body. Until relatively recently, “the ovary was ... regarded as a homologue of the male gland” (25). According to the author, modern scientific research and concepts are also characterized by the consideration of women and femininity through the prism of masculinity. In this regard, the main criticism falls to the psychoanalysis, as well as socialism of Marx and Engels. Beauvoir offers the reader a sufficiently detailed description of Freudian psychoanalysis. In spite of the practical value of psychoanalysis in the treatment of various mental health problems faced by both men and women Freudianism has one significant drawback. This drawback is that, similar to many other scientists, Freud ignores the individuality of womens sexuality. Freud points to the existence of libido as sexual energy, which plays a particularly important role in the lives of men and women. Nevertheless, libido regarded as having a male “character”. Freud “refuses to posit the feminine libido in its originality” (50). Thus, the separate existence of the female libido as a unique phenomenon, which cannot be fully compared with the male libido is denied in the theory of Fred. Beauvoir also gives a critical evaluation of the theory of socialism, because men and women are seen solely in economic terms as participants in the economic process. The tragedy of life for women is that in order to be “women,” the women must play certain roles, perform certain duties and obey the male preferences for feminine appearance, behavior, and even way of life. The fact is that for man the woman "is a sexual partner, a reproducer, an erotic object, an Other through whom he sees himself" (67). The woman thus is a means to meet the different needs of men, including sexual. She is only important as a means and as a method. Men do not want to be women, but they thank God for creating women (161). “The more women assert themselves as human beings, the more the marvelous quality of Other dies in them. But today it still exists in the hearts of all men” (161). "The real woman is the one who accepts her as Other” (273). Thus, the woman is a collective image of the qualities that are important for men. A woman should be modest, beautiful, young and healthy. She is a creature that embodies the very Nature for man, but she has no right to independent choice of way of life and behavior. Female gender is deprived of the right to determine itself based on biological characteristics of the organism. It depends on the cultural norms and rules established by men all over the world. As a result, “Beauvoir proposes that the female body ought to be the situation and instrumentality of women’s freedom, not a defining and limiting essence” (Butler, Gender Trouble 16). To sum up, Beauvoir proposes to consider gender in two ways: as pertaining to biological sex in the case of men, and as representing the theoretical construct in the case of women. Men initially have the opportunity to get the gender status as men, because no one disputes the link between their biological sex and gender status as men. In the case of women, the situation is exactly the opposite. Gender appears as a construct that takes into account primarily male ideas of the perfect woman. In this case, the role of the female body is ignored as having value itself, separately from men. On this basis, the female gender is capable of undergoing external changes primarily by men, who give it one or other necessary qualities (modesty, obedience, etc.). Beauvoir sees the task of women to break this tradition and gain their freedom of choice in the creation of their female image. Read More