Simone de Beauvoir

Question 1

background/book

Answer 1

• First existential feminist
• Existentialism set the freedom of the indvidual against the constrictions placed on someone by the moral/religious world around them
• ‘The second sex’

Question 2

HN

Answer 2

• Gender differences are created by men in society, not natural
• Developed the idea of the other
• Men have characterised women as different, but different in a way of their choosing
• Men construct a notion of femininity and the feminine ideal that served their own economic and physical ends.
• Whilst biological experiences are of some significance, the entire notion of what a woman should be is socially rather than biologically constructed.

Question 3

The state

Answer 3

State reinforces culture that prevents women from expressing their true freedom

Question 4

Society

Answer 4

Social constraints prevent individuals, not just women, from obtaining self realisation

Question 5

Economy

Answer 5

Men’s dominatin of economic life restricts the life choices open to women

Question 6

Solution?

Answer 6

• First, women should be granted equality of opportunity with men, to escape their role within the household, marriage and as sex slaves.
• Second, the destruction of the patriarchal institution, including the traditional nuclear family. a staunch advocate of the ‘politics of sameness’ in which equality could only be achieved via an androgynous ideal.