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Philosophy Essay
A question that still remains with us today: What does it mean to be a woman?
Current debates over the continent or analytical traditions of feminism are still relevant to the philosophical wisdom of a prominent philosopher, Simone De Beauvoir. Seemingly, this question appears easier but is rather much difficult to answer given its contemporary germaneness. The second-wave feminists began to mark boundaries between sex and gender by incorporating gender identity into the culturally prescribed behaviors. The idea that biology is destiny was strictly argued against by De Beauvoir, who is best known as a writer and a feminist thinker.
In 1949, De Beauvoir’s most famous and influential book, ‘The Second Sex’ laid the framework for the second wave of feminism. Reproductive rights, family issues, sexuality, workplace rights among other things, were the broader concerns of this wave. Almost all the strands of continental and analytical philosophy strive to liberate women and are committed to their freedom and equality, yet the debate about what it is to be a woman or who is considered a woman still remains with us today.
“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” CITATION Bea72 \l 1033 (Beauvoir)
This quote is a true depiction of the existential history of a woman’s life. It probes into the dynamics of how society influences a woman’s attitude towards her body and bodily functions. Off-shoots of this quote indicate towards another interrogative strand which asks that before becoming a woman, what state that human flesh was in. This quote also entails that women must always be comprehended in relation to men.
“Man is defined as a human being and a woman as a female — whenever she behaves as a human being she is said to imitate the male”, CITATION Ste16 \l 1033 (Stefanovici).
This also leads us to ask why one person embodies the persona of a woman while another does not. Various case studies of different stages of a woman’s life are deeply explored and analyzed in this book. Also, there is an attempt to determine whether the supposed or actual disadvantages faced by women are objectively prevalent in all the societies in a uniform manner or are just limited to oppressed societies.
Across the globe, women belong to different socio-economic classes and belong to different ethnicities, religions, nationalities, and sexual orientations. These differences automatically translate into different concerns and interests about the growing deliberations on feminism and the philosophical questions associated with gender identity. For many decades, various strands in the feminist philosophy have presumed that there is no single or definitive property that all women share. This paves the way for introducing a concept that is suitably inclusive and incorporates all the normative inputs. Questions like “What does it mean to be a woman” or “Who all can be categorized as women”, are open to multiple understandings and conceptions. Throughout history, many different feminist philosophers and scholars endeavored to devise many possible notions and are still studied by contemporary academics and philosophers for guidance.
Beauvoir also strived for the formulation of an inclusive and definitive answer to this question by actively speaking on the issues of female liberation and emancipation in the workplace. By default, anthropological and historical studies point towards the premise that a woman is always subject to subordination along with more than two dimensions. These dimensions can be associated with political, legal, economic or even socio-cultural horizons.
In 1949, the second-wave feminism caused much outbreak and social chaos. The emergence of radical ideas was chiefly related to existentialist concerns about freedom. For instance, the opinion that gender is a social construct still attracts ample amount of philosophical debate. The kind of freedom which is achieved by acting on the basis of free-will or radical freedom was only possible if the authentic self was expressed. Following this line of approach, this was not possible in the case of women at that time because women were expected to act according to some pre-determined and normatively accepted rules. The sense of freedom and authenticity of women were largely affected as they were projected as subservient and docile to their male counterparts. It was also anticipated that women must look and act a certain way which was strikingly different from what males did or looked like.
Developments in the feminist debates can also reduce the gendered economic disparities and can also support the rights and privileges of trans-women and minority groups who have unorthodox sexual orientations. The conceptions revolving around gender and identity must be unsettled if the question under consideration needs to be ultimately answered.
A patriarchal society almost always tends to punish women and demands that women must stay within a marked set of boundaries and if a female tends to stray from that demarcation, she is bound to face consequences. Since birth, women feel their inner selves to be embedded in the hostilities and oppressive conditions of male-dominant societies. Being a woman is more than biology because the attitudes and gender roles attached to females because of their physical attributes are merely a plethora of perceptions. It can also be reflected that being a human being precedes being a woman and there is a need to recognize the complexities that accompany it. In a less than perfect world, which is marked with many insurmountable perils, a woman has to face numerous up-hill battles while carrying the inherent weaknesses that are largely ascribed from her birth. The meaning of a woman can only be understood properly if notions about these weaknesses and battles are completely shattered and the strength exuded by womanhood is accepted and practiced normatively.
“If I want to define myself, I first have to say, “I am a woman”; all other assertions will arise from this basic truth. A man never begins by positing himself as an individual of a certain sex: that he is a man is obvious” CITATION Tow18 \l 1033 (Townsend).
This quote also imparts claims about gender socialization. The results of differential treatments are largely the reason why gender dissimilarities are essentially cultural in nature rather than having a sound biological basis. In the absence of certain theoretical goals, the distinction between gender identities is considered to be pretty useless. Agency and human subjectivity are more often than not identified with the human mind. Owing to the fact that women are primarily identified with their bodies and are objectified, they are considered as devalued agents. Thus, the opposition between men and women is thought to have stemmed from the opposition between the mind and body. The distinctions between various groups of individuals, men, women, Trans, queer amongst others, turns to be worthless if the end goal is devoid of production of a good theory of subjectivity. This distinction is also inclusive of certain undesirable commitments of ontological nature which demotivate the social agents. It can be implied that one is not considered a woman because she shares the apparent properties with other women. Instead, going through the right history makes someone a woman. Going through an ontogenetic and elaborate process of gender socialization specifically dismisses alternate views about being a woman.
Of all the groups of divine creations, women have been undeniably differentiated by virtue of their bodies and the lives of women are also quintessentially shaped by such narratives that are crafted by society.
Works Cited:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Beauvoir, Simone de. "The Second Sex. 1949."Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972.
Stefanovici, Smaranda. "Why do we need feminism." Philologia (2016): 105.
Townsend, Mary. "Do Women Exist?." The Hedgehog Review (2018): 28-38.
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