The Second Sex

There always seems to be a sidekick. Batman had Robin, the Lone Ranger had Tonto, and Marsha
had Jan. No matter what the sidekick did, they were always the Other! According to Simone de
Beauvoir, the same can be said of man and woman. Man is seen as the superhero; woman is the
subordinate. Man is always the subject; woman is always the object.
Speaking philosophically, the subject is what has identity. It exists independently, apart from
context. It simply is because it is! On the other hand, the object is dependent on the subject. The
object is the observed; the subject is the observer. The subject takes action. The object is acted
upon. Again, man is the subject. Woman is the Other. Being sickened by this premise, de Beauvoir
authored The Second Sex.
Today we'll take a look at this famous work and its harsh critique of woman as the Other. As a
quick note of caution, de Beauvoir didn't pull any punches, so hold onto your hats. She also didn't
really come up with many solutions. However, she sure did delineate what she saw as the problem!
According to many, The Second Sex stands as the first attempt to view history through the eyes
of feminism. Made public in 1949, it asserts that man is seen as the absolute and essential. He is
the star of the show! Meanwhile, woman is inessential and incomplete. Man gets to enforce his
will on the world, and woman is bound by the circumstances of the world. Man is the great subject;
woman is the Other!

History
Working to make her point, de Beauvoir included the words of some pretty famous men. For
instance, The Second Sex quotes Aristotle as saying, 'The female is a female by virtue of a certain
lack of qualities.' Ouch! It also cites St. Thomas as saying, woman is an 'imperfect man.' She's an
'incidental being.' Double ouch! Summing all this up, de Beauvoir asserts history is to blame. It
tells us that man is in the right for being a man and woman is in the wrong. It teaches that humanity
is male.

Biology
de Beauvoir points out that a woman's biology is often used as justification for repression and
reduction to Other status. In fact, she called reproduction a curse! Because of it, and I quote,
woman 'is a womb, an ovary. A woman's ability to gestate life makes her a biological curiosity to
men, who sees woman as inhuman.'
Being rather specific, she discusses how Aristotle, who she saw as being particularly hostile toward
women, says that even the female egg passively waits for fertilization. It is the male sperm that
does the invading. She points to this as an invalid biological justification for the practice of keeping
women tied to the house, the home, and passivity. de Beauvoir argues that hostility toward women
is so entrenched and pervasive that no matter how rich or how poor, woman is seen as wife, mother,
and hostess.
According to de Beauvoir, woman must break free of these roles she's been assigned. Only through
outside work, as in not motherhood, will she achieve autonomy.
Woman
Speaking of the woman's role, de Beauvoir admits that woman has played a part in her relegation
to the position of Other. It's not just history and biology's fault; woman has been complicit in ways
as well. According to de Beauvoir, woman has traded in freedom for security. She has chosen
comfort over conquering. She has allowed herself to be seen as inferior, because she has passively
accepted being the Other. After all, being second is usually easier than being first! This isn't to say
that de Beauvoir thought that women were completely at fault, but she was frustrated that women
seemed to willingly accept the passive role that was imposed upon them.

Lesson Summary
Simone de Beauvoir authored The Second Sex. Published in 1949, The Second Sex stands as the
first attempt to view history through the eyes of feminism. It asserts that man is the great subject;
woman is the Other! Man is seen as essential; woman is not.
In this work, de Beauvoir blamed history, biology, and, to a limited extent, woman herself for the
status of Other. As for history, she quoted famous men, like Aristotle, as saying, 'The female is a
female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities.'
She also blamed biology. To de Beauvoir, reproduction is a curse. It has made woman nothing
more than a womb and an ovary. de Beauvoir also blamed woman for her position as Other. She
asserts that woman has passively accepted second place. She has chosen comfort over conquering.
She has traded in freedom for security.