Why is a woman “the other” of a man? The term “the other” describes the female’s secondary position, to a man, in her own mind and in society’s standards. In The Second Sex, by Simone de Beauvoir, the understanding of reality is made up of interaction between opposing forces. For an individual to define oneself and have a true understanding, s/he must also define something in opposition. “[A]t the moment when man asserts himself as subject and free being, the idea of the Other arises,” says de Beauvoir. Throughout history, men claim themselves to be the subject or the superior to women. A man sees a woman as the object to his success. She is essential in sexual pleasure and in producing children, but as an independent she has no substantial value. A woman completes her partner when she, herself, isn’t complete. This idea leads women to hesitate in following their own dreams and asserting their freedom. Even though this imbalance is closer in modern times, the situation is still present. Society accepts “roles” a man and a woman should play, when in reality everyone should ...
This proposal will identify the social construction of gender roles for women as the “other” in the primary source writings of Simone De Beauvoir’s The Second Sex and Arrogant Beggar by Anzia Yezierska. Beauvoir’s Second Sex provides a primary source evaluation of the historical distortion of women’s role in society as the “other” through patriarchal traditions that have no basis in genetics or science. Yezierska’s experiences as a Jewish woman in New York “workhouses” define the subjective gender roles assigned to women as being submissive and “invisible” in patriarchal American culture. These two primary sources define the subjective and non-scientific distortion of women‘s roles as the “other” in patriarchal European culture as a historical
In Making Sex by Thomas Laqueur, the author analysis sexual differences throughout the 18th century reviewing physicians, scientist, biologist and how society understood the anatomy and physiology of the human body. Laqueur brig us two sex models; the one-sex model and the two-sex model. He explains who we transition from the one-sex model to the two-sex model. How this two models had impacted our society and created an impact in history had it to do with the fact that a lot of evidence was drawn from science. Laqueur also explains how society constructed sex. He takes this investigation in very detail as he explains and investigates sexual differences.
There was a time (not so long ago) when a man's superiority and authority wasn't a question, but an accepted truth. In the two short stories, "Desiree's Baby", and "The Yellow Wallpaper", women are portrayed as weak creatures of vanity with shallow or absent personalities, who are dependent on men for their livelihood, and even their sanity. Without men, these women were absolutely helpless and useless. Their very existence hinged on absolute and unquestioning submission…alone, a woman is nothing.
What is otherness? Otherness is defined as “the quality or fact of being different”. We see this term thrown around, but what does it really mean? In the world we live in today, being viewed as “other” is considered a negative aspect of a person's personality. Through the society that impacts how we see ourselves, the thought of otherness has been constructed based off of a person's social identity. In the essay “Between the Sexes, a Great Divide” author Anna Quindlen states that different genders should not define the social aspect of one another. Similarly, in Paul Theroux’s essay titled, “Being a Man” he acknowledges the fact that in the society we live in, “being a man” is a standard stereotype that men should not compare themselves to in order to be considered “manly”. Both authors identify the problem of gender expectations that results from otherness; however, while theroux makes the divide worse by generalizing with a bitter tone, Quindlen invites everyone to “do the dance” despite the discomfort and awkwardness that might occur between both genders.
Over time, the image of men has changed. This is due mostly to the relaxation of rigid stereotypical roles of the two genders. In different pieces of literature, however, men have been presented as the traditional dominate figure, the provider and rule maker or non-traditional figure that is almost useless and unimportant unless needed for sexual intercourse. This dramatic difference can either perpetuate the already existing stereotype or challenge it. Regardless of the differences, both seem to put men into a negative connotation.
Kingsolver shows that while motherhood is a celebrated social expectation, as evident through the pamphlet given to Lou Ann, the woman is seen as the “other.” As Beauvoir succinctly puts it: “The men of today show a certain duplicity of attitude which is painfully lacerating to women; they are willing on the whole
In today 's society women play a number of rolls depending on what area in the world they live in. Here in the western part of the world we are lucky enough to live in a society where women are able to speak freely and to share what is on their mind. If a woman disagrees with a man 's opinion or something that he says she is allowed to voice her disagreement. However, in other societies throughout the world women do not have as much of a voice. They are expected to be submissive to their husband and respectful when in the presence of other men. The female population is thought of as inferior to the male population. This sort of thinking is very similar to that of the mindset of the sixteenth century. Women were thought of
The construction of gender is based on the division of humanity to man and woman. This is impossible ontologically speaking; because the humans are not divided, thus gender is merely an imaginary realm. It only exist in the language exercises, and the way that cultural products are conceived in them. This essay is a preliminary attempt to offer an analysis of ‘One Is Not Born a Woman’ by Wittig and ‘The Second Sex’ by Simone De Beauvoir holds on the language usage contribution to the creation of genders and the imagined femininity.
In the book History of Sexuality: An introduction, Volume 1 by Michel Foucault, he discusses the “repressive hypothesis” which he had developed. Sexual repression was due to the rise of the bourgeois. He suggests that the repressive hypothesis is important for discourse on the revolution of sexuality. Foucault has recognized the repressive hypothesis as a form of discourse. The repressive hypothesis has power to repress the debate of sexuality. Foucault mentions that society has created control over how people talk about sex over time. In the 17th century with the rise of the bourgeoisie, there had been control on the discourse of sex. In the 18th century, sex was studied for the means of regulating the demographic of the population. Sex lives
Stephen Morton in his Gayatri Spivak promotes Simone de Beauvoir’s saying, therefore he point outs,
Beauvoir says that everyone is free, but how one approaches their freedom is often irrational and/or paradoxical. Few men are ‘truly’ free and can firmly grasp reality, glorifying themselves as well as others. Beauvoir offers five types of men who are dishonest about their perception of their freedom. These men develop what Beauvoir calls bad faith. The sub-man, serious man, the nihilist, the adventurer, and the passionate man. These types of men are all around us and are often portrayed in movies. This analysis will evaluate the adventurer’s attitude. We shall see under what circumstances a young adventurer declares himself free and explore how he manages his new insight. While Beauvoir claims this man is close to morality, the adventurer is pretentious and ultimately turns into his tyrannical enemy.
Conflict theorists would argue that gender is just an attempt by men to maintain power and privilege. So based on this idea men are considered the primary or dominant group, which makes women the secondary or subordinate group. Of course it’s natural for people in power to try to maintain their power and
Society has females and males alike typecasted into roles which have basic characteristics that are the reverse of each other. Although this has begun to change over the past thirty years, typically the man was seen as superior to the female. This superior image is one that today, is slowly on its way to being reduced to one of complete equality between the two genders.
Men were taught to be superior to women since the dawn of time, whereas females were looked down upon. Ruled by patriarchy, it was hard for most of these women to do more than just be a stay at home wife. In some of the stories we have read, the women were portrayed as submissive, obedient, with no voice. Women have struggled to break out of this mold and find a voice for themselves. However, some managed to break out of these expectations and standards. Women and men have had to fulfill different set standards before anyone had stepped foot outside the womb. For both genders those standards came with different expectations.
Marguerite of Navarre was a very influential humanist Catholic reformist. She married King Henry II of France, making her Queen of Navarre in 1527. Marguerite’s most famous work is her book The Heptameron, a series of short stories told to pass the time while stranded in a monastery. Her book was published 9 years after her death, in 1558 (Elmer, 2000, p. 56). One of the stories she wrote was “Novel XXX,” a cautionary tale about what can happen if one doesn’t stay pure. With Marguerite of Navarre’s influence, the inclusion of “Novel XXX” in The Heptameron say a lot about how sex and celibacy was perceived in the Renaissance.