Reading Review: The Second Sex

The Second Sex examines the femininity and the negative social images associated with women, both past and present, and their struggle to create a world where women truly can be equal to men. In light of such the author identifies how women have developed the subservient image and how a male dominant world creates a caste system putting themselves on top and women in the lower class. In an attempt to illustrate the inferiority women feel, the author provides a comparison of women to the Negro in that even though the Negros have been emancipated, we still wish to keep them in their place. While women are considered to have equal rights to men, society still places limitations as to what jobs are appropriate for women, the statuses they may attain, and the opportunities available.

Feminisim,in and of itself, creates a duality. In one sense they want to be equal to men but at the same time, women also want to be held to a different standard. To support this I quote Dorothy Parker, "...men as well as women, should be regarded as human beings. But nominalism is a rather inadequate doctrine, and the antifeminists have had no trouble in showing that women simply are not men. While woman is, like man, a human being; but such a declaration is abstract...To decline to accept such notions as the eternal feminine is to say that none existed." To say that, in referring to a group of people--containing both women and men--as man, is to say there is only men, drawing a the conclusion that the women are not included. To remedy such, they wish to distigusish and separate themselves from the men.

While we do indeed live in a male dominated world, it is necessary to cite the hardships and challenges that women have overcome in an attempt to create a balance of power among men and women. The fact of the matter is that the social image of woman is engrained in history thus creating the predisposition that women are to be seen as below men. However, as of recent, we are beginning to see the rise to power of women taking on positions of high social status and a breakaway from the stay at home mom.

Questions:

1. Is there a catch 22 in the principles of feminism?

2. Does the role of the man as the protector create inferiority?

3. Do we have the right to classify a job as to dangerous for a woman?