This year, I am going to be nicer and view everything with a spirit of renaissance. I will let go of the past and do all that I can to promote the virtues equality, love, and positivity upon every person I encounter. Let me leave this literature... Anyways, these are reasons why I and all women who work hard to be financially independent should admire Simone de Beauvoir .
Existentialist Feminism
Existentialist feminism derives from the school of thought of Simone de Beauvoir. In her world-view, the woman is not always powerless and does not always need to be dependent in a male-female relationship. Prostitution allows women an avenue of escape from dependency on men in a way that does not leave them victims, but empowered women. Equality of rights and freedom between the sexes is desirable. However, if they are not forthcoming, prostitution can provide the woman with the kind of liberty that is immediate, affirming, and temporally rewarding. De Beauvoir appears to exalt all women as possessing the capacity to realize their innate power in the sense of the feminine warrior spirit. In the existentialist view, the power of a competent woman over a man is not an illusion. A man may think he is in charge of a situation by virtue ofhis power to degrade and subdue a woman, but with a woman of competence and spirit this “power” is not incontrovertible. In Carol Pateman’s words directed towards the role of a woman as a prostitute, “The man may think he ‘has’ her, but his sexual possession is an illusion; it is she who has him...she will not be ‘taken,’ since she is being paid.” The spirit of entrepreneurship prevails here instead of the darker concerns of Marxism, which views employment as exploitative and oppressive. To her the prostitute is not the fallen and oppressed victim, rather the “quintessential liberated woman.” While believing that women are oppressed by an inequality between the sexes, she also believes there is an escape by economic means. So on the one hand a prostitute is viewed as an oppressed woman, and on the other, a liberated one by way of a successful economic strategy for her own survival.
http://www.feministissues.com/existential_fem.html
On Marriage
Beauvoir demonstrates her negative thoughts about marriage saying that "to ask two spouses bound by practical, social and moral ties to satisfy each other sexually for their whole lives is pure absurdity". She then describes the work of married women, beginning with several pages about housecleaning which she says is "holding away death but also refusing life".She thinks, "what makes the lot of the wife-servant ungratifying is the division of labor that dooms her wholly to the general and inessential". Beauvoir says a woman finds her dignity only in accepting her vassalage which is bed "service" and housework "service". A woman is weaned away from her family and finds only "disappointment" on the day after her wedding.[54] Beauvoir points out various inequalities between a wife and husband (in, for example, age) and finds they pass the time not in love but in "conjugal love". She thinks that marriage "almost always destroys woman". She quotes Sophia Tolstoy who wrote in her diary: "you are stuck there forever and there you must sit". Beauvoir thinks marriage is a perverted institution oppressing both men and women.
1976 Interview snip on reality of equal rights for women:
Gerassi. But is it real? I mean. I’ve learned. for example, never to use the word “chick.” to pay attention to women in any group discussion, to wash dishes, clean the house, do the shopping. But am I any less sexist in my thoughts? Have I rejected the male values?
Beauvoir. You mean inside you? To be blunt, who cares? Think for a minute. You know a racist Southerner. You know he’s racist because you’ve known him all his life. But now he never says “nigger.” He listens to all black men’s complaints and tries to do his best to deal with them. He goes out of his way to put down other racists. He insists that black children be given a better-than-average education to offset the years of no education. He gives references for black men’s loan applications. He backs the black candidates in his district both with money and his vote. Do you think the blacks give a damn that he’s just as much a racist now as before “in his soul”? A lot of the objective exploitation is habit. If you can check your habits, make it so that it’s “natural” to have counterhabits, that’s a big step. If you wash dishes, clean house, and take the attitude that you don’t feel any less “a man” for doing it, you’re helping to set up new habits. A couple of generations feeling that they have to appear non-racist at all times, and the third generation will grow up non-racist in fact. So play at being non-sexist, and keep playing. Think of it as a game. In your private thoughts, go ahead and think of yourself as superior to women. But as long as you play convincingly – that you keep washing dishes, shopping, cleaning the house, taking care of children – you’re setting precedents, especially men like you who have a certain macho “pose.” The trouble is, I don’t believe it. I don’t think you really keep doing what you say. It’s one thing to wash dishes; it’s another to change diapers day in, day out. http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/2nd-sex/index.htm
Looking at a lot of young men today, she was right about setting a precedent. Way more guys I know help around the house these days than my Dad was expected to. Even diaper changing and raising kids have become less sexist. This is thanks in a large part to women like Beauvoir and women like most of the SPs on this board. Thanks ladies!!!
Existentialist Feminism
Existentialist feminism derives from the school of thought of Simone de Beauvoir. In her world-view, the woman is not always powerless and does not always need to be dependent in a male-female relationship. Prostitution allows women an avenue of escape from dependency on men in a way that does not leave them victims, but empowered women. Equality of rights and freedom between the sexes is desirable. However, if they are not forthcoming, prostitution can provide the woman with the kind of liberty that is immediate, affirming, and temporally rewarding. De Beauvoir appears to exalt all women as possessing the capacity to realize their innate power in the sense of the feminine warrior spirit. In the existentialist view, the power of a competent woman over a man is not an illusion. A man may think he is in charge of a situation by virtue ofhis power to degrade and subdue a woman, but with a woman of competence and spirit this “power” is not incontrovertible. In Carol Pateman’s words directed towards the role of a woman as a prostitute, “The man may think he ‘has’ her, but his sexual possession is an illusion; it is she who has him...she will not be ‘taken,’ since she is being paid.” The spirit of entrepreneurship prevails here instead of the darker concerns of Marxism, which views employment as exploitative and oppressive. To her the prostitute is not the fallen and oppressed victim, rather the “quintessential liberated woman.” While believing that women are oppressed by an inequality between the sexes, she also believes there is an escape by economic means. So on the one hand a prostitute is viewed as an oppressed woman, and on the other, a liberated one by way of a successful economic strategy for her own survival.
http://www.feministissues.com/existential_fem.html
On Marriage
Beauvoir demonstrates her negative thoughts about marriage saying that "to ask two spouses bound by practical, social and moral ties to satisfy each other sexually for their whole lives is pure absurdity". She then describes the work of married women, beginning with several pages about housecleaning which she says is "holding away death but also refusing life".She thinks, "what makes the lot of the wife-servant ungratifying is the division of labor that dooms her wholly to the general and inessential". Beauvoir says a woman finds her dignity only in accepting her vassalage which is bed "service" and housework "service". A woman is weaned away from her family and finds only "disappointment" on the day after her wedding.[54] Beauvoir points out various inequalities between a wife and husband (in, for example, age) and finds they pass the time not in love but in "conjugal love". She thinks that marriage "almost always destroys woman". She quotes Sophia Tolstoy who wrote in her diary: "you are stuck there forever and there you must sit". Beauvoir thinks marriage is a perverted institution oppressing both men and women.
1976 Interview snip on reality of equal rights for women:
Gerassi. But is it real? I mean. I’ve learned. for example, never to use the word “chick.” to pay attention to women in any group discussion, to wash dishes, clean the house, do the shopping. But am I any less sexist in my thoughts? Have I rejected the male values?
Beauvoir. You mean inside you? To be blunt, who cares? Think for a minute. You know a racist Southerner. You know he’s racist because you’ve known him all his life. But now he never says “nigger.” He listens to all black men’s complaints and tries to do his best to deal with them. He goes out of his way to put down other racists. He insists that black children be given a better-than-average education to offset the years of no education. He gives references for black men’s loan applications. He backs the black candidates in his district both with money and his vote. Do you think the blacks give a damn that he’s just as much a racist now as before “in his soul”? A lot of the objective exploitation is habit. If you can check your habits, make it so that it’s “natural” to have counterhabits, that’s a big step. If you wash dishes, clean house, and take the attitude that you don’t feel any less “a man” for doing it, you’re helping to set up new habits. A couple of generations feeling that they have to appear non-racist at all times, and the third generation will grow up non-racist in fact. So play at being non-sexist, and keep playing. Think of it as a game. In your private thoughts, go ahead and think of yourself as superior to women. But as long as you play convincingly – that you keep washing dishes, shopping, cleaning the house, taking care of children – you’re setting precedents, especially men like you who have a certain macho “pose.” The trouble is, I don’t believe it. I don’t think you really keep doing what you say. It’s one thing to wash dishes; it’s another to change diapers day in, day out. http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/2nd-sex/index.htm
Looking at a lot of young men today, she was right about setting a precedent. Way more guys I know help around the house these days than my Dad was expected to. Even diaper changing and raising kids have become less sexist. This is thanks in a large part to women like Beauvoir and women like most of the SPs on this board. Thanks ladies!!!
