Gilligan

What are the differences between men and women in terms of the way they regard relationships?

Gilligan writes that men and woman determine their roles in society based upon certain factors of early childhood development. Gilligan argues that men will be more successful than woman because of their competitiveness. She claims this will be because at an early age males were involved in games with rules and girls were concerned with relationships. “Men show such readiness to adopt and celebrate a rather narrow vision of success” (Gilligan 810). Gilligan also argued that men were more dominant and independent than woman. She stated this was because men parted from their mothers unlike woman. I don’t know whether I disagree or agree with Gilligan on this issue. On a case to case basis more woman are attached to their mothers than men. But I think the masculinity comes from other factors not from being separated from their mother’s arms. As I was reading her context, I got the impression that she had a different viewpoint on feminism than the other writers in this section. She to wrote about the way women are mistreated in society, but she didn’t really suggest a solution to stop it from continuing.
This reading was very interesting and I believe some of the theories in Gilligan’s readings were poorly thought out. Although I do agree with Gilligan that if a girl was raised from an early age to be self-reliant, then she would grow up to be a strong, independent woman. I enjoyed reading Gilligan.

Works Cited

Gilligan, Carol. “Woman’s Place in Man’s life Cycle.” A World of Ideas: Essential Reading for College Writers. Ed. Lee A Jacobus.7th Ed. New York; Bedford St. Martins, 2006. Pp 801-817.

Beauvoir

In her essay Simone De Beauvoir mentions how women are seen as the “Other” human sex. In connection to that she also writes about the story of the master and the slave. The story is significant because it points out how both the slave and woman are called the “Other”, leaving man with the title “master”. The irony of the reading is how man is the master, who rules over woman, who in turn has been lowered to the level of the slave. This one, the myth of woman, sublimating an immutable aspect of the human condition-namely, the “division” of humanity into two classes of individuals- is a static myth” (Beauvoir 784). Another point Beauvoir brings up in her essay is how women are labeled in one of two ways. Man’s ignorance turns itself into a problem women must deal with. “We can see now that the myth is in large part explained by its usefulness to man. The myth of woman is a luxury”. (Beauvoir 791). Beauvoir suggested that men will benefit from the myth of woman. In the myth woman are treated as slaves, and objects to men. Beauvoir states, “For a great many woman the roads to transcendence are blocked: because they do nothing, they fail to make themselves anything.” (790). Here Beauvoir talks about how woman have not stood up for rights for so long, and today some instances still exist. People generally are afraid of talking about gender because many of them think that the talking would be the end about feminism because people think that feminism states, women are good and men are bad.


Works Cited
Beauvoir, Simone De. “Myth and Reality.” The Second Sex. A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006. pp781-795.