The Second Sex By Simone De Beauvoir Analysis

Historically, power has been manifested hierarchically within the social training of genders. Simone De Beauvoir’s concept of ‘otherness’ has theorized how individuals’ personal manifestations of self are influenced deeply by their social position and the available power to them within these circumstances (2000:145). She remains one of the first to develop a feminist philosophy of women. In her book The Second Sex (1950), Beauvoir provides “a philosophical account of the development of patriarchal society and the condition of women within it” (Oliver, 1997:160). Beauvoir’s fundamental initial analysis begins by asking, “what is woman” and concludes woman is “other” and always defined in relation to man (Beauvoir, 2000:145). “He is the Subject,
Beauvoir illustrates that the problematic element involved in social training is the assumed roles of gender. Women are always other. They never occupy the subject position. This dichotomy between men and women is so deeply ingrained in our ways of thinking that nobody even questions the model to begin with. However, Beauvoir does question this model and is truly a pioneer for her time in doing so. Existentialism focuses on the notion that each individual is responsible for the meaning, which they attach to their lives. Even though we occupy a world, where our choices are informed by “established norms and values” (Oliver, 1997:160). These values have been entrenched into cultural institutions of patriarchal control and ultimately facilitated the concept of woman as “other”. The institution of marriage is one in particular that calls for the subjection of women, and provides men with unbound power over their wives. Beauvoir illustrates that the emancipation of women would call for a complete removal of systems and institutions that restrict women’s freedom. Women are restricted on so many levels that we would need to completely disregard all of these forms of ‘interlocking’ oppressive systems which make up our