This post is going to be based in Simon de Beauvoir’s work called The Second Sex relating it to todays almost image of women..i would probably call it a superwoman.
In this famous text, she talks about the myths that are made around woman, explaining how historical and other facts have altered the image woman in societies. She says that the "woman" is a construction, a social construction and she also adds that human beings learn to be men or women as they are socially determined by their sex. In other words, men and woman are not born in this way, they are constructed.
I want to base my post in what society nowadays expects in women.. I do not know if you have noticed how much pressure woman have to deal with today. For instance, publicity has shown an imaginary physical aspect that men now assume that woman have to comply with. We could say that we are expected to be super models..and if we are not, we usually feel ugly, fat, etc. We suffer a lot due to this physical goal that is actually unachievable because is pure photoshop!
Secondly, marketing and media have also created a model in our sexual life. I am sorry for my vocabulary, but we have the pressure to be a sort of prostitute in bed and a lady in social life. I am when you are with your mother in law, you should be eating like a lady, sitting like one and acting elegant and fancy, but when it comes to intimacy approaches, men assume that we should become what media expect…latter they will be showing off with their friends.
To sum up, we are not only supposed to comply with all these duties perfectly, but we most be exceptional professionals when it comes to work. Now..it is very difficult to have a Phd in law, have children and a 20 year girl body all at the same time. You see where I am going to? Because another thing that I do not want to forget to point out is that we should have perfect family with the perfect family portrait.
I want to say that if you are a woman reading thus post, take all the pressure that media is putting in our back and live life less seriously! And if you are a man reading it, don’t think that we can deal with all of this and compliment us as much as you can! We suffer a lot!
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ReplyDeleteHi Lucia,
ReplyDeleteI think it makes sense to point out how women suffer nowadays. However, Beauvoir's philosophy is a philosophy of action and she gave us a very good hint at how we can improve our situation: There are structures in our society that don't allow us to be as emancipated as we want to be. We need to change the structures! Planned parenthood has already had a huge impact on changing these structures. But we can do more. I am not sure about the laws in France, but in a lot of other countries only women get maternity leave. And if men get paternity leave, it's just for a week or two. Logically, if the mother stays at home with the newborn she will also start doing the majority of the housework (since she has more time than the working man). Later when it comes to the question if the child should be in a day care center and the parents decide to have the kid at home at least once or twice per working week, fathers will have a hard time convincing their employers to allow them to work part time. So even if a man wants to stay at home a day or two a week, the structures we have will be a great obstacle. The woman will work part time (or even stay at home 100%) and thereby again embrace a traditional role. Men and women need to start fighting for new policies as our current ones push us into traditional roles.
I really like your figure of speech, with trust and spontaneity ! I wish you talk more about Simone de Beauvoir and her philosophy, especially Volume Two of The Second Sex : Lived Experience. It would have been interesting to talk more about the "pervasiveness and intensity and mysteriousness of the history of women's oppression" presented by Beauvoir as well as the so-called determinism. Besides, I think we have to qualify Beauvoir's thought. Can we say today, in France, that men opress women ? Can we say that Man occupies the role of the self (or subject) and woman is the object, the other ?
ReplyDeleteHey Lucia !
ReplyDeleteWell, sorry for being an other girl commenting your blog post but boys seem to avoid it ... Well, wait. What am I saying? I'm not sorry at all ! Alienation begin when you start being sorry.
We can't blame people for not feeling concerned about a situation when they never lived it. But we have to talk about it, as you did.
And I believe that Simone De Beauvoir, through The Second Sex, wanted to clear all of this, to express herself with hard words to chock everyone. And it worked.
If women wants to stop to be disciples of society rules, they have to make men understand the problem. Women can only free themselves by themselves. Men are not the evil. They just grew up in the same misogynous society as us.
Hello Lucia!
ReplyDeleteYou have beautifully tackled a subject that concerns us as a young woman.
I'm almost 20, and I feel like I have to be right on every corner of my life, as my body and face, mind and spirit, ambition and value. These day, daily pressure is something for real because of all the diktat imposed. By reading your post, I wondered how do you want us to live less seriously ?
And I started realized that maybe men actually feel the same daily pressure than us. It might be not a women specificity, thanks to the progress the society made toward a greater equality. Well, I know that there is still a big work to do on that subject, but I think that concerning that daily pressure, we probably all feel concerns as far as we are human being.
Have a good day :)