Simone De Beauvoir

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One of my favorite facets regarding philosophy is that, as time passes, all of these pressing matters remain relevant to no less than ponder over. In my social work classes, I’m recommended to be reluctant toward using older articles as resources because social norms progress more quickly in the modern world. In the introduction of Simone de Beauvoir’s novel The Second Sex, titled “Woman as Other,” de Beauvoir addresses feminism in an atypical manner for being written in 1952. Previously, the main goal of the women’s revolution was to obtain the right to vote. Following de Beauvoir’s novel, these goals advanced into workplace equality, sexual orientation and women’s roles in the home. I do agree with de Beauvoir’s views, her essay is intricately …show more content…

She states, “Thus humanity is male and man defines woman, not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being” (549). This means that as women, we are less capable than men, so we must rely on and be dependent on men to do the things that we just cannot. A man will feel much pride over being male, “whereas woman represents only the negative, defined by limiting criteria, without reciprocity” (548). I think the world should stop looking at gender as a competition. Due to the differences in hormones, men and women are physically not the same. In some aspects, men are capable of things that women are not, and vice versa. This is not always the case, I know women that can do a mans’ job just as well, but I can even attest to not being equal to men in some ways. My question is, why does the world not attempt to embrace this more? To help each other in the areas where the other may be slightly deficient …show more content…

However, de Beauvoir does an amazing job of expressing the peculiarities of women's inequality. Groups that are usually discriminated against are the minority, but sex is just about even in the world. Women are not the minority, like most groups that are discriminated against, the population is about even between the sexes. Groups of people that are segregated usually gain a sense of pride, whereas women live blended with men and other women. I think de Beauvoir explains it best when she said, “The bond that unites her to her oppressors is not comparable to any other. The division of the sexes is a biological fact, not an event in human history” (550). This makes me wonder if gender inequality will ever be completely

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