Female Oppression Through De Beauvoir's The Second Sex

Introduction

In the introduction to ‘The Second Sex’ the text highlights many issues women face within society and how they are oppressed by men. Men are shown to always view themselves as the more dominant gender in society. The text is written by Simone de Beauvoir and uses personal pronouns to show that the author is talking from her own perspective. Women are losing their roles in society and their ‘self’ the quotation from the introduction ‘Woman is losing herself, a woman is lost.’

The Three Aspects of De Beauvoir's Theory

The 3 main points are the social, religious, and biological aspects of femininity that De Beauvoir believes affect women the most. Women are expected to be feminine and carry out feminine tasks to be viewed as woman and ladylike. De Beauvoir states that women who do not act in a certain way that society expects or wants them to then they are no longer women, experts proclaimed that ‘’They are not women’ and ‘Feminity is in jeopardy; we are urged, ‘Be women, stay women, become women.’’ Women are almost forced to be feminine if they would like to be accepted into society and to be accepted by men. Women who do not act like a woman are urged to ‘become women’ just for the sake of men and society. This is one of the few reasons that led to De Beauvoir’s frustration to eventually end up writing a book on feminism which she was first uncomfortable doing so as she finds ‘the subject irritating’ it’s also viewed as a taboo topic. Women feel the need to always have to prove their identities and their gender, always having to go the extra mile in comparison to men to prove their gender. It is argued that a man does not have to assert himself as a man because it is obvious however women feel like they have to state their identities by saying ‘I’m a woman’ The gender gap between both sexes is almost like a hierarchy with men being at the top and the women being at the bottom. De Beauvoir states that in discussions men are more dominant and have the upper hand compared to women, for example when a woman says something contrasting what a male believes men tend to say ‘You think such and such a thing because you’re a woman’ However when the scenarios are reversed it sounds unsuitable and inappropriate to say you think such and such because you’re a man. That is how the term feminist was born, women who are demanding basic equal rights to men, not vice versa hence why there isn’t such a term for men.

Gender Roles: Objectification in Religion

Women are believed to be viewed as the object to men and are there to serve men and their purpose in life is to be the object of a male. In religious books such as the Bible in the Book of Genesis and the Qu’ran, it states that Eve was made out of Adam’s rib. The prophet Muhammad (PBUH) stated ‘Treat women kindly. A woman has been created from a rib’ In both religious books there have been stories about the creation of Eve being created from a part of Adam’s body. This assertion has caused many males to believe that they are far superior to a woman and that ‘Humanity is male, and a man defines a woman, not in herself, but in relation to himself’ so a woman is defined by a man and cannot define herself without belonging to a man, this causes women to feel objectified within society.

The Second Sex is not the only book that highlights feminism and toxic masculinity, in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein men are portrayed to be stubborn and self-centered whereas the women are portrayed to be petite and weak with no voice or say. The novel evolves around male violence and lack of power towards women more so than the creature's own struggles with attempting to fit into society. In Frankenstein, most of the main characters are men whereas the only few main female characters played a submissive role for the men/husbands and the main purpose of their roles was to eventually die. Throughout the novel, it is evident that the portrayal of men and women in the novel was through Mary Shelley’s perspective in the 19th century when the book was written. In the novel men were always more dominant and enjoyed restricting females. So when the opportunity to create another female which would have been free of restrictions and one that he cannot control he opted to destroy and kill her. He was also worried that the monster and the female may eventually be able to reproduce without his permission and consent and end up creating ‘’a race of devils’’ who can ‘’make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror’’ Victor sees the opportunity for the woman to have freedom and sees the threat of her possibly having more power than the man. By having the right to bear children and eventually creating life just as Victor did makes him and her no different which Victor could not take. He does not want to be equal and the same as a woman and doesn’t believe that she deserves the same right to create just like he did so he decided to kill her.

Struggles of Women in Literature

Women are highlighted as the male counterpart in both Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein’ and De Beauvoir’s ‘The Second Sex’. Women’s rights are suppressed and neglected while always having to expect to be obedient to a male. Since Frankenstein was written in the Victorian era we are presented with stereotypical roles of men and women and the division between sexes. All the female characters were playing housewife and domestic roles in the novel whereas men were playing significant roles such as scientists and merchants. Ironically the women in the novel are either murdered or treated unfairly. When looking back at De Beauvoir’s introduction she writes ‘But women are not a minority like American blacks, or like Jews’ this quotation highlights the main issue she believes women are facing. The inequality gap is so large that women feel like they’re a minority compared to men when statistically there are almost the same amount of women as there are men on this earth. Unlike American blacks or Jews who experience prejudice, discrimination, and inequality alongside racism mainly due to the fact that they are a minority compared to others, women are treated like a minority when they shouldn’t be. De Beauvoir starts to question where the submission of men towards men has come from, when did it start? Both sexes are reliant on each other and they need one another to reproduce. However as evident as it is in Frankenstein, Victor couldn’t bare the equality and not being more dominant and possessive and in control of the female monster once she would have been created.

In contrast to Judith Butler who believes that Gender is an imitation and it isn’t something you are born into. Society is what shapes your gender and that sexuality is fluid. Butler uses examples of drag to show that gender can be acted out within society and drag portrays this. She says that ‘all gendering is a kind of impersonation and approximation’ stating that gender is a copy of people being what they believe they should be according to society. She believes gender is people trying to be something that society made them believe they should be. Whereas she believes that gender is all made up, alongside heterosexuality. Her argument is that because heterosexuality sex was the first type of sex to be introduced in society it is the norm. However, heterosexuality only exists because there is another. Such as homosexuality, without multiple sexual identities, there wouldn’t be a term for heterosexuality. That is why Judith Butler states that ‘Compulsory heterosexuality sets itself up as the original, the true the authentic’ This relates back to De Beauvoir’s view on social views stating that “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman.’’ Women aren’t born as women, they are born and have to prove themselves to become a woman. Linking back to Judith Butler's text where she believes that gender is an imitation and you aren’t born being assigned a gender. However, you are shaped and grow into your gender by society. In addition to this point, De Beauvoir stated that women, unlike men, have to identify themselves and make their gender clear by stating ‘I’m a woman’.

Conclusion

In conclusion, both theories from De Beauvoir and Mary Shelley highlight important issues women face and have faced in society. They both shed light on inequality with Mary Shelley portraying the life of a woman in the Victorian Era being submissive and obedient to men. Also having to face consequences for men’s mistakes such as the monster killing victors little brother, with the innocent little girl paying the price. Women are expected to be feminine in order to be accepted into society and to be viewed as a woman to a male. Not only are females portrayed as the disadvantaged gender, but they are also objectified in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, especially Elizabeth whose role is to be the submissive female was given as a gift to Victor for his satisfaction, Victor stated that “My mother had said playfully, ‘I have a pretty present for my Victor -tomorrow he shall have it.’ And when on the morrow, she presented Elizabeth as her promised gift.” (Shelly, 21)’’

Elizabeth was objectified by Victor's mother as a present to be given to her son to satisfy his needs. Both texts were written in different eras with Frankenstein being a 19th-century text and De Beauvoir being a 20th-century text, the treatment of women was not exactly the same in the Elizabethan era as that in the 20th century. Both theories have valid points with women definitely being treated unfairly. De Beauvoir highlights the inequality between genders however Judith Butler's theory to overcome this is to have a gender-neutral society where there is no male or female everyone is the same sex and can be whichever sex they desire.