Woman: Myth and Reality by: Simone De Beauvoir “One is not born but rather becomes a woman” --Simone De Beauvoir

1) “If the definition provided for this concept is contradicted by the behavior of flesh-and-blood women, it is the latter who are wrong: we are told not that Femininity is a false entity, but that the women concerned are not feminine” (Beauvoir 253). When a woman does not act in the prescribed Feminine way, it is not society’s definition of femininity that is wrong, but rather the woman herself is wrong.

2) “To pose Woman is to pose the absolute Other, without reciprocity, denying all experience that she is a subject, a fellow human being” (Beauvoir 253). To pose as a woman who has accepted these societal norms, is to deny that one has had important personal experiences, and therefore, denies her humanity

3)“To identify woman with altruism is to guarantee a man an absolute right to her devotion, it is to impose on woman a categorical imperative” (Beauvoir 255). To expect a woman to be altruistic (selfless, compassionate) is to automatically limit her as a person.

4) “Few myths have been more advantageous to the ruling caste than the myth of woman: it justifies all privileges and even authorizes abuse” (Beauvoir 256). By creating a myth about women, those in the position of power can use it in order to justify their oppression over them.

5) “To say that woman is a mystery is to say, not that she is silent, but that her language is not understood; she is there, but hidden behind veils; she exists beyond these uncertain appearances” (Beauvoir 257). By creating myths instead of understanding a woman, one is preventing any opportunity for communication

6) “Furthermore, like all oppressed, women deliberately dissembles her objective actuality; the slave, the servant, the indigent, all who depend upon the caprices of a master, have learned to turn toward him a changeless smile or an enigmatic impassivity; their real sentiments, their actual behavior, are carefully hidden. And moreover woman is taught from adolescence to lie to men, to scheme, to be wily. In speaking to them she wears an artificial expression on her face; she is cautious, hypocritical, play- acting” (Beauvoir 259). Internalized oppression?

7) “[…]there is not such thing as masculine mystery. The point is that rich America, and the male are on the master side and that Mystery belongs to the slave” (Beauvoir 259). The dominant culture is always clearly defined

8) “With man there is no break between public and private life: The more he confirms his grasp on the world in action and in work, the more virile he seems to be; human and vital values are combined in him. Whereas woman’s independent successes are in contradiction with her femininity […]” (Beauvoir 262). Being part of the private and public spheres are automatically part of a man’s identity. Therefore, he encompasses all that is human. In contrast, if a woman becomes independent, she contradicts femininity.

9) “No doubt it is more comfortable to submit to a blind enslavement than to work for liberation: the dead, for that matter, are better adapted to the earth than are the living” (Beauvoir 263). It is easier for women to submit and adapt to the environment than fight for freedom

10) “Women serve as, “the looking glass possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man as thrice its natural size”. The myth of man has been developed by the dominant power in order to reinforce an image of themselves