Simone De Beauvoir: Gender and Sex

Simone De Beauvoir Gender and SexSimone de Beauvoirs Insights Towards Gender and termIs there any wonder that Simone de Beauvoir rejected the head that genderhas innate characteristics from birth?As a woman philosopher living in a mans world I be craftve she full understood what she was talking about. The writings in her world re directned book The Second Sex write in 1947 give us a historic and cultural lesson of what women wipe out had to over return to exist as women in a mans world. Men and women argon both influenced by their conditioning the master(prenominal) difference is that man has been attri alo learn the leading type. Times argon changing and Simone de Beauvoir has played an principal(prenominal) role in our attempt to undo the erroneous programming. Todays leading ladies throw a elbow room proven their capacities at performing the part.Simone de Beauvoirs example of what a woman that is intelligent can do in life by her straightforward, honest approach may be t he smellping stones for former(a) women to fearlessly do the said(prenominal).As farther choke off as the 10th century subjects of antifeminism squander haunted the women of the world. The handful of women that were in the limelight were ordinarily obliterated for witchcraft as in the case of Jeanne DArc or publicly ridiculed or at worse martyred. Women as the lesser sex produce been depicted as temptresses from Bible old geezerhood which at the same time undermined their intelligence. This dual image which has conditioned women to define themselves as passive beings who lie in wait for men to save, them or come and love them and their counterp gentleistic discipline the devouring temptresses who take what they want and hand the rest behind including their intelligence is what Simone de Beauvoir sees as our conditioning. This conditioning starts at a very early age when there are no apparent differences between baby misss and baby male childs. They are both at this ear ly age totally in need of nurturing and physical contact which they thrive upon. This loving bid is exactly the same up until a certain moment when the baby is weaned. According to Simone De Beauvoir from that point on boys are taught to become little men and they receive less physical contact and affection than their fille counterparts They are in ex diversityable manner a product of their conditioning just as we are. This is an important thing to have in mind throughout this reading. Boys and young womans alike are part of their environmental conditioning through family heritage, cultural traditions, religious beliefs and historical beliefs. As children we all have the same attitudes of temper tantrums, pouting, charming our parents because we are in situation the same until our environment gives us a nonher outlook upon ourselves. Little girls quickly image that they need to be careful. They need to act like little ladies not climbing trees and skinning knees as their br others are encouraged to do. This novel starts very early with the family attitude about the physical differences between sexes. Boys have an outward expression of their masculinity which turns them rapidly into having something to be proud of. This expression of self that has, in the eyes of the parents, a value becomes what the boy measures himself to other boys with. Its a tactile indicator of their manliness and gives them the instinct of measurability. How long their sex is and how far they can urinate. The inevitable presence of their extension gives them a power of object. Women are indwellingness. All of their discoveries are inward and therefore left unsaid. You cant see much of the sex of a little girl so it is not made a fuss over as boys sexes are. Girls pass judgment to express their transfer towards an object to a skirt for example. This treating a doll as herself gives her the idea that the affection is the same and therefore she is someone to dress up to cater to, that has an existence because others make her exist. Later on in life she forget eventually become that doll thing that sits home waiting for her preserve and children to pick her up and do as they please with her. Just as she idled absent her childhood she idles away the hours of her parenthood, or wifehood at home staving off boredom with no particular goals or worlds to conquer.Boys grow up with the idea that they are going somewhere and have something to accomplish and will assume responsibilities along the way. They learn at around 13 yrs. old that the answer may not come out in words notwithstanding through violence. A girl wills repress her own violence because girls dont do that sort of thing. This violence turns into neurosis which in part is violence unexpressed which comes back to oneself eventually. Simone De Beauvoir was avant reserve when she recognized the fact that women have their own part of violence at that age that we do not allow ourselves to express i t. We are simply not encouraged socially, historically or culturally to express it. Where progress has been made is that much and more women are training in martial arts which are a positive way to express their inner violence.What up suffice our mothers, and depending on what conditioning you were excessively given, was the pre- established path chosen for us no matter what we would like to become. Once the path was set then fear was quickly to follow. What path? The path that says no matter what education you receive you will end up a wife and mother then grandmother. This is a f fullening aspect of the maturation girls plight. She will not sole(prenominal) have to learn to become a woman, a wife, a mother and a grandmother. She can study all that she would like just there is no real asking of her to do so or to assume the responsibilities that this implies. Shell marry then stop racetrack(a) to have children and her husbands career will prevail and take on the traditional role of breadwinner. Perhaps todays economy has obliged young women to be career assertive but maybe not for the right reasons. Career minded because families are not withstanding without two good salaries to entertain them. The outer expression of sexual pride may still be baring the road. The fact that a young woman can be a productive and important member of our society and that she also has her contribution to make does not seem to impress upon girls as it does on boys.There are so more frightening biological events in the life of a young girl who is becoming a woman that possessing her own inward sexuality is a complicated task.Young men can see theirs, be proud of it, and use it where as young girls have to deal with what biologically is imposed upon them. Their menstrual cycles which alter their characters for several days a month is in itself part of the mystery of womanhood. The changes in her carcass that may lead her to withdrawal because now she is becoming the objec t so desired by men. The doll has come of age and can now be manoeuvred gibely. This is a moment in time when many young women become anorexic keeping their bodies at bay and stopping the menstrual cycle as if time would stand still. The onset of an eventual pregnancy, abortion risk, risks during pregnancy, menopause and all the choices that implies has made being a woman probably more complicated than being a man. What is very interesting to remark according to statistics there are a large majority of women that would prefer being men. Men in a very small minority if they had the choice would have preferred being a woman. There is the unfortunate, radical, feminist view of continuously proving that women can be more or better than men by doing the same things and acting the same way.. I find this unfortunate. If we want tinctity then we should be striving for touch on respect and equal rights not superiority and domination which are what has made us suffer from the ages. Women finale ways to be assertive, well-balanced, brilliant, and effective is what can give us our strength in todays world.It was unthought-of at the time of French sculpt rice Camille Claudel that a woman could surpass the master. Camille Claudel would never have broken through the layers of men to get to where she did in the arts if she hadnt had the support of her drive firstly and Rodin. Once Rodin retracted she lost all prestige and control over her life. There is the commodious Mexican artist Frida Kahlo who also had the support of her father interestingly enough and that of a great Mexican artist as well. Both fathers in these two examples gave their support to their daughters which were probably what they would have received if they were sons kind of of daughters. In the face of talent and genius these men were supportive and able to recognize potential. How many other Sunday morning painters got left by the roadside because they were not recognized in virtue of their talents but because of their gender?What did the world wars teach us about women? It taught us that in the absence of brothers, cousins, fathers, and husbands they were capable of running a country from industry to education the national health Women kept their families fed, clothed, and sheltered during the war. We are not warriors are heart but have the same potential. There are examples in history like Amazons and Jeanne dArc of women capable of leading armies and warring. We could have been cultivated as war lords also but werent. Women are givers of life and that is probably what gives us the incentive to promote peace culture instead of war. No woman wants to see her sons, daughters, husband, brothers or sisters go off to war and not come back. The peace figurehead has a majority of women supporters and that seems to go with the fact that life giving is still our realm.The political world has open up its doors to women within the last twenty years. Before that time there was usuall y a woman behind a great man in the shadows and there to decorate the photographs for the press more than for her faiths. In France there were three woman ministers elected in the late 70s. This was a move point. The paradox comes in when women fought in the French resistance showing their bravery and didnt obtain the right to vote until two years after the war was over. The equality act was also pronounced dead after womens right to vote. This maintaining of women in a conditioned status has been painful for us and is now becoming painful to our male counterparts who are seeking the limits of their own identity. Women are now brought up and root system to think for themselves, what they want out of life, what they are going to do to get what they need. This is a true cultural revolution. If the conditioning has begun to change then women shall become women and know themselves. Thus knowing themselves they will become decision makers, and active citizens not through mans making but through their own. This fundamental step has been operating since May 1968 even though precursors since ancient times have been trying to change this. Simone de Beauvoir succeeded in starting the league for Womens Rights and was a militant for family planning.Giving back to women the right to do what they need to do with their own bodies was an essential step in accepting the responsibilities that are incumbent for every human being either man or woman. The big waking up of our society started with her book and has go along to live on inspiring women to take the responsibility for their lives as a person and an equal which gives them a lot more freedom than it did our mothers. The social role was encouraging us look pretty but please dont say anything. Mediocrity amongst woman rose as her provided idea of self was stemming from what others mirrored her. Her husband and her family were her only mirrors and connection with the world. He went out in the world she quiet stayed ho me or followed in the shadows. If an intelligent woman did express herself she was ridiculed in public and could not be accepted for her thoughts. The Marie Curies and other thinkers are a small handful of the potential that women have been suppressing since the start out of time. Women are beginning to realize that no matter what their conditioning since birth they can change the course of events in their lives. Taking their own responsibility for their own lives and what is to become of them is the next chapter in our evolution. Women are finally starting to be raised to believe in themselves and their capacities. Ask a little girl today what she wants to become later and she might surprise you and answer an astronaut, a research worker, an architect . We are far from the days of Simone de Beauvoirs struggle to live in a mans world. I think that men are having trouble adjusting to this change. They are becoming more and more aware of womens presence in the work field and their co ntribution as fellow citizens. Their own identity has been questioned and ours is beginning to grow and develop. This cleavage will be difficult to stabilizesince all related gender problems have finally come to the surface, the debate is whether or not women that are raising their children can make the invoke to raising their sons and daughters alike. The story perhaps begins and ends with women. Are we going to keep attributing to ourselves the role models that went before us? Or are we finally going to break the bondage of what we have been made to think of ourselves? There has come a time when the individual man or woman will begin to raise his spirit and choose him or herself first. Not in and egotistical way but to ask oneself the question What do I need for myself right now to be in agreement with myself? When finally women and men have worked on themselves enough to be able at any moment to ask themselves that question then it is definitely not a question of gender but aut onomy. Do women want their autonomy? Is the slow way out or women to continue a mediocre existence to take the easy way out and let this be a mans world and a state of settlement and submission? Men take their independence and unfortunately women think or have been taught to think theirs is to be earned. Men believe it is their right from the beginning. Women ask permission for it and in most circumstances and it never comes. passing behind all the social prejudice and family prejudice and historical and cultural prejudice can only be the choice of women. Simone de Beauvoir showed us that a woman is herself and can dare to be herself if she so chooses. Although this idea will not appeal to some, women are running for presidential office these days and hold important functions within our highest auspices while Simones message has probably hit home. Women are accepting to be themselves without asking permission to do so. Men are battling with their own conditioning and their own id entity problems collect to this conditioning. In order to create a balance it will take time and courage. Women for peace, for childrens rights, for non-violence, for equal education and career rights have united all over the world to speak their piece. A sightly French song that implies women as being mens future. could hold a lot of right in these words.Thinking back on the historical events and cultural ideas about gender it must have taken great incentive for a woman like Simone de Beauvoir de openly and honestly explore the femaleness and the contradictions of our times. It is also easy to comprehend why men find it so difficult to understand us when we are on the brink of finding ourselves as people and as women. Perhaps if our own opinion of self changes then the worlds opinion can also evolve. Starting with individual awareness can only lead to universal awareness in time. Simone de Beauvoir in her rejection of gender has put back the sparkle in the eyes of women and hel ped us overcome the conditioning of the years. quotesSimone de Beauvoir Le Deuxieme Sexe Galiard, Paris 1947Nancy Bauer Contributor Simone de Beauvoir Philosophy and Feminism capital of South Carolina University press N.Y. 2001Isabelle De Courtivron Contributor New French Feminism An Anthology ED. Elaine Marks ED. Publisher University of Massachusetts press,Amherst ma. 1980www.lang.soton.ac.uk/students/french/FrenchThought/beauvoir/Reference to song written and sung by Jean Ferrat La Femme est lavenir de lhomme