de Beauvior response

To begin with, I found Simone de Beauvoir's article to be completely engaging. She
has a wonderful way with words. There were so many examples that I found that apply
to both her article and to pop culture, but since I am limited only to two, I chose two of
the ones I thought were the most fascinating. For example, on page three, de Beauvoir
quotes an excerpt of a text known as the Rapport d'Uriel by Benda. "'For him she is sex--
absolute sex, no less... He is the Subject, he is the Absolute-- she is the Other.'" This
particular excerpt and passage really stood out to me. First off, it completely backs de
Beauvoir's claim that (in the Western World, anyway,) woman has often been overlooked
by man in terms of being equal. In her opinion, they have, for the most part, been
viewed as objects of sexual desire and subservience. Also, Benda's quote completely
pertains to pop culture. The minute I read the excerpt, I immediately thought of
contemporary media and its portrayal of women. Many R-rated films, for instance, show
scenes that contain nudity and sex or sexual acts. How often does one see a nude man
in such shots? More often than not, it is the woman who is shown nude in these scenes.
Coincidence? I think not.
Another example that I found completely fascinating can be seen on the bottom of
page four and the top of page five. de Beauvoir is comparing women and proletariats.
She mentions that the word "we" is a key concept that separate the two. "Proletarians
[Russian revolutionists, the blacks of Haiti, and the Indo-Chinese] say 'We--' But women
do not say 'We,' except at some congress of feminists or similar formal demonstration;
men say 'women,' and women use the same word in referring to themselves. They do
not authentically assume a subjective title." She goes to say that women "...have gained
only what men have been willing to grant; they have taken nothing, they have only
received." I really had to think this over as it suddenly came over me. Did de Beauvoir
think that women couldn't fight for equality? I came to this conclusion by thinking about
the other examples she presents, such as the Russian revolutionists and the Indo-
Chinese. Both of these groups were led by men who have since left a lasting impact on
world history (Vladimir Lenin and Ho Chih Minh.) However, before I could analyze this
passage even more, de Beauvoir explains that "women lack concrete means for
organising themselves into a unit which can stand face to face with the correlative unit.
They have no past, no history, no religion of their own; and they have no such solidarity
of work and interest as that of the proletariat. They are not herded together in the way
that creates community." I understood this immediately, for they never were "grouped
together" by society like, say, Jews, Asians, or the various racial or ethnic/religious
groups were.
As one can see, I really took a lot from this article and had much to say about it! I
am looking forward to what people will say about this article in class tomorrow!