Introduction:

Simone De Beauvoir was a French writer and become more known to be Jean-Paul Sartres companion. Sartre was also a French novelist and a philosopher, being Sartres companion for more than twenty years she was inspired to write her to write a book about women in order for her to know more about herself. Sartre is known for his book Being and Nothingness which ideas are about existentialism, from that book De Beauvoir realized that in order for her to write a book about women she must first describe the general condition of women during that time. Are there women, really? What is a woman?1 These were the questions that were raised by Simone De Beauvoir in her book The Second Sex. She spent a lot of time for research and talk with many women asking them about their lives. In her research she noticed that several women have different perceptions about there situation. Colette Audry, her fellow teacher and a political activist, cited the fact that women in their time could not vote and this was her reason why women could not participate fully in the French society. Audry also thought about writing her own book about women but in the long run she lost interest in it. In certain circumstance Audry and De Beauvoir happened to meet in a French caf, De Beauvoir told Audry that was going to write a book about women. Audry know that her friend who always insisted that her life as a women was as free and equal as any mans.2 In her book, sexuality and socialization became the pillar of analysis and reflection.
Simone De Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans. ed . H.M . Parshley (New York: Vintage Books Edition, 1989) , xix.
2 1

Ibid, ix.

In this paper, the researcher will talk about De Beauvoirs ideas . First, the study will present Simone De Beauvoirs philosophy which focuses on the idea of feminism. Second, the researcher will site several examples of historical and current situations of women in the society. Studying Simone De Beauvoirs ideas may help enlighten people in their misconceptions of what women are. It is important that people may know the rule of a woman in the society. With this both men and women may live equally and in harmony in this society. What is a woman and what are the limits to her freedom? Simone de Beauvoir presents a vague portrait about human freedom, in her presentation she portrays that women in her day to day life struggles all disadvantages that she encounter in her human body. In her book The Second Sex which was her most famous work, she pictured out a kind of existence that a woman undergoes as she experience several bodily changes over the years and how society may affect their attitude. Are the supposed disadvantages of the female body actual disadvantages which exist objectively in all societies, or are they merely judged to be disadvantages by our society?3 This was the question that was raised by de Beauvoir which concerns the so-called disadvantages on a womans embodiment. Through studying various cases about the female embodiment, she came up with the answers that a female body may give both negative and positive effects

Ibid.,p. 262

and thus a woman is oppressed and free in the same time . The reason that a womans body can be the catalyst for her freedom and her oppression makes it the site of ambiguity. Thus, this matter has no essential truth, it clearly depends upon how a woman sees herself , it either she sees herself as a subject that can freely do her own things or an object that in which the society casts its gaze. Being with and knowing Jean-Paul Sartre for more than twenty years, she was influenced by Sartres idea that whatever we perceive, including other people, is rendered as an object to our gaze and is defined by us. Thus in her work, de Beauvoir took this idea and applied it to the perception that men have on women. De Beauvoir agued that the idea woman as the other is a male concept, because of the fact that male considers himself as the seer which clearly implies that the male is a subject and woman is the object of males gaze.

Biologically, de Beauvoir argued that woman does not posses any handicap, thus it is only through how a woman deals with the condition where she can have the positivity and negativity of it. It is only in an oppressive and hostile society where women can find her bodily embodiment becomes her burden and disadvantage when they come to accept the meanings that a patriarchal society accords them, even though at first the development of female sex organs, menstruation, pregnancy, menopause have meanings for themselves. Watching a boy and a girl during their pre-adolescent years one can see that they are not really different, they have the same interests and the same pleasures4. How could men be

Ibid. 295.

more important that women if the initial psychological differences in their early years are relatively insignificant.

De Beauvoir argues that a girl experiences trauma every time a bodily development occurs. This demarcates her more and more to the opposite sex sharply. Society reacts hostilely and in a threatening manner towards a girl as their body matures . This process whereby one comes to experiences oneself as a sexual, bodily exposed to another persons gaze is called by de Beauvoir as the process of becoming a flesh. This does not have to be a negative thing, but most of the time young girls are often forced to become flesh against their will.

The young girl feels that her body is getting away from her on the street men follow her with their eyes and comment on her anatomy. She would like to be invisible; it frightens her to become flesh and to show flesh.5 In a growing girls life, there are tons of events that can reinforce the belief that it has bad luck to be born in a female body. For a girl, a female body is such a nuisance, an embarrassment and a problem to deal with, no matter how hard a girl tries to forget that she is imprisoned in a female body, the society in which she is in will keep on reminding her about it. Some of the examples that the philosopher gives are ; a mother who keeps on criticizing her daughter about her posture and looks, a random guy that she may meet in a

Ibid. 333.

caf wholl make sexual comments about her body, adolescent boys who tease her and make jokes about her menstruation.

After presenting the negative points that a woman may think about being trapped in a female body, De Beauvoir also presented the positive examples on having a female body. She cited that there are tons and tons of situations that may help a young woman become comfortable, joyous and proud with her body. See for example, a girl who spends a night with her girl friends, she enjoy the moment when they can talk about a lot of stuff, the fact that they can understand each other and they can have connections. In this example a girl can have the sense of happiness and freedom in her body that she is unable to experience in a social environment where both men and women are present. In their circle friends, there are no mothers present and males to gaze upon them. With that they can see themselves through their own eyes and can finally define their bodies to be themselves. Though she can experience these things in the circle of her female friends, she still could not ever escape the natural world forever. Being a part of a patriarchal society, she will eventually undergo further traumatic events which peak on sexual intercourse. Intercourse is physically traumatic for girls because it involves pain and penetration. It is also culturally traumatic because usually girls are kept in a greater state of ignorance than boys. It was pointed out by de Beauvoir that a girls sexual education tends to be the romantic and ideal sort for her, which must follow the sequence starting from the emphasis of courtship and pleasure of gentle caresses but never the penetration. However, in reality when a girl experiences the said sexual activity, the romantic fantasies that she has grown up with seem

to be a world away from the experience itself. De Beauvoir dryly observes that for the shocked young woman love assumes the aspect of a surgical operation.6 For de Beauvoir, it is not the occurrence of penetration or the biological facts that gives a traumatic experience to a woman. She argues that it is mens lack of generosity in his sexual behavior that is combined with the womens fear of being objectified before the experience of the real sexual intercourse are the factors that gives distress to women. It was suggested by de Beauvoir that in order to experience a positive sexual experience, both partners must give an erotic generosity towards the other, rather than selfish sensuality. After the sexual encounter, a woman may experience pregnancy, here pregnancy may be considered to be more positive if she is prepared and it is planned than the first sexual encounter itself. Though, this phenomenon is still an ambiguous one for women for it is both a magnificent enrichment and it is an unfair bodily invasion. During her pregnancy stage, society (generally men) considers the woman to be less sexually attractive and no longer sexually available. With this, women now can escape mens sexual gaze, de Beauvoir argues that this may bring a positive development towards a woman for the reason that now she is no longer in service as a sexual object, but she is the incarnation of her species, she represents the promise of life, of eternity7

6 7

Ibid., 404.

Ibid.,518.

As a woman gets old, de Beauvoir describes it as intent on struggling against a misfortune that was mysteriously disfiguring and deforming her8. This time women feels upset about herself and reminisce the times when she was considered attractive. Conclusion De Beauvoir admits that a woman persists through the oncoming stages that experiences, she may find herself in a positive or in a negative way. Years after de Beauvoirs book The Second Sex was published, there were many changes happened in the live of the women and how the society is treating them. Thus, in the present society both men and women can be considered equal. Women can now freely take the profession that she wants she can also have the good positions in a company. Though this phenomenon is totally visible, there are still women who are totally misunderstood by men. At present there are those feminist movements that fight for the rights of every woman. Over all de Beauvoirs book The Second Sex can be considered as an eye opener for every men and women who have known about it. With all the changes that have occurred in the society, every woman in the society including the researcher herself hope and will continue to fight what de Beauvoir has started. Aiming that, all of the societies can deal equally with both men and women. Simone de Beauvoir and the Limits to Freedom

Ibid., 595.

An Article Review Presented to the Undergraduate Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences University of San Carlos Cebu City, Philippines

In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirement for the Degree BACHELOR OF ARTS IN PHILOSOPHY

By

ANISAH JULIA ECHAVEZ-FERNANDEZ March 2012 Bibliography:

Simone De Beauvoir. The Second Sex. trans. ed . H.M . Parshley. New York: Vintage Books Edition, 1989.