SB #156- The Second Sex (1949)- SB #156- Simone De Beauvoir

1. How do women traditionally struggle against male domination? What are

their tactics?
Women traditionally struggle against male domination because it is all they
have ever known, and find it hard to reject something, although they really
want to, that had been deeply implemented within their psyche, “Having no
independent domain, she cannot oppose positive truths and values of her
own to those asserted and upheld by males; she can only deny them. Her
negation is more or less thoroughgoing, according to the way respect and
resentment are proportioned in her nature. But in fact she knows all the
faults in the masculine system, and she has no hesitation in exposing
them…….”. Their tactics are as what I would describe “sit back and watch
them destroy themselves, because she knows that man would destroy
themselves without her, even though man themselves would never admit to
it”, “Man pompously thunders forth his code of virtue and honor; but in
secret he invites her to disobey it, and he even counts on this disobedience;
without it, all the splendid façade behind which he takes cover would
collapse.

2. Why are women “illogical” or obstinate”?

Because she views man to be superior, “She has the same cynicism because
she sees man from top to toe, as a valet sees his master. But it is clear that
none of woman’s traits manifest an originally perverted essence or will: they
reflect a situation”. It could also be said that women are illogical because she
is inexperienced with the criterion of plausibility; only direct knowledge,
whether her own or that of others, carries conviction—her own or that of
others is mentioned firmly enough. “She believes in her intuitions much
more firmly than in universally valid reasoning…”, this is purely illogical.

3. De Beauvoir implies that men and women think differently. How? Do you
think she is correct, or is she only reinforcing an old stereotype?
I do not think that she is correct, she appears to be generalizing all women,
but all women think differently, and although it could be said that men think
with logic and women think with emotions, “Not accepting logical
principles and moral imperatives, skeptical about the laws of nature, woman
lacks the sense of universal; to her world seems a confused conglomeration
of special cases. This explains why she believes more readily in the tittle-
tattle of a neighbor than in a scientific explanation”. Due to this, I believe
that she also reinforcing an old stereotype.
4. Women have ambiguous feelings toward feelings toward men, de Beauvoir
says. Is this a positive or a negative thing in her view?
De Beauvoir views women having ambiguous feeling towards men as a
negative thing, but she also states, “The ambiguity of women’s feelings
toward man is found again in her general attitude toward herself and the
world…if she allies her self with these magical forces, she will come to
power in her turn. Society enslaves Nature; but Nature dominates it. The
Spirit flames out beyond Life; But it ceases to burn when life no longer
supports it”.