THE ETHICS OF AMBIGUITY Simone de Beauvoir translated from the French by BERNARD FRECHTMAN Published by Citadel Press, A division of Lyle Stuart Inc. Velhice Simone Beauvoir Pdf To Word A Velhice Simone de Beauvoir - Download as Powerpoint Presentation (.ppt /.pptx), PDF File (.pdf).

“The Second Sex” cover () Inspiring the second-wave feminism movement in the 1960s, Simone de Beauvoir’s “ The Second Sex” captures the true extent to which women have been oppressed throughout history as a result of being categorized as the Other. Endeavoring to explain how this categorization has occurred, Simone de Beauvoir elucidates an evident duality in society: man represents the ‘Self,’ the essential, or the transcendent, and woman embodies the Other, the inessential, or the sex. Where does this dualistic nature of thought originate? To support her argument that “otherness is a fundamental category of man thought,” ( The Second Sex, xvii) Simone de Beauvoir reaches back to the dark crevices of humankind’s origin myths in order to grasp this basic idea and bring it into the light for her readers to see.

Pandora’s box () Drawing on ancient creation myths and the Bible, Simone de Beauvoir shows how women are labeled as the Other by being viewed as secondary, less perfect beings in relation to men. In creation myths, like the ancient Greek story of Helios and Semele, the sun and the moon were usually personified as a male god and a female goddess, respectively, with the female figure representing darkness.

In Genesis, Adam and Eve reside in the Garden of Eden until Eve eats the forbidden fruit, implying an association between women and evil. Women in these stories embody a dark, sinful side of being.

Another example presenting the Other as the half of being that transgresses or goes astray is the Ancient Greek myth of Pandora. According to the story, Pandora is the first woman on earth. Zeus, the ruling god, gives her a sealed jar containing all the evils of the world for safekeeping. Yet, Pandora opens the jar when she gives in to her own unrelenting curiosity. As a result, evil spills out into the world and Zeus blames Pandora for it. In this myth, the woman is portrayed as she who gives in to weakness and is responsible for bringing evil into the world.

By using literary evidence, Simone de Beauvoir establishes the perceived role of inferiority into which men have cast women throughout history by defining that Other as the darker, inferior side of humanity. Her work then focuses on the struggle women face in liberating themselves economically, politically, and sexually from the status of Other. Given the mistrust of women in the cultural imagination, the liberation of women is a difficult undertaking. Simone de Beauvoir believes a woman should embrace her identity as both a woman and as a human being.

The concept of women and men being equal, while still different, was revolutionary in terms of the history of feminist theory. In spite of this, many women still believe they must act like men in order to gain a position of influence in the public sphere.

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For example, women in politics tend to wear pantsuits and act tough so that men will take them seriously. Simone de Beauvoir firmly rejects the notion that women must emulate men in order to be treated as equals or to be in a position of power because she believes that the biological difference between men and women must be acknowledged: “Women simply are not men” ( The Second Sex, xiv). She discourages women, especially feminists, from getting caught up in this abstract notion that women are human beings and therefore are not women.

Women’s protest in 1960’s (sites.google.com) However, she also discourages women from embracing their status as the Other in society and remaining complacent towards men. Continuing the example of women in politics, some female interns use their status as the sex or the Other to have men assist them in reaching their goals by sleeping with powerful politicians. There are countless stories wherein a woman aspires to a smaller goal than a man normally would and then uses her stereotypical role as a sexual object to have a man in power make her goal become a reality for her. In a less extreme way, a woman, by acting infantile, has a man take pity on her and ease her path towards relative success because it makes him feel like an essential or a positive being, since he is making a difference in her life.