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.