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Liberal Feminism - Key Thinker Simone De Beauvoir - Coggle Diagram
Liberal Feminism - Key Thinker Simone De Beauvoir
Existentialism
This is the idea of a freedom of an individual against the constrictions placed on him or her by the moral and religious world around them and exhorted them to struggle against such restrictions by imposing their own will upon life
Failing to impose one's will is known as 'bad faith' but succeeding is known as 'authenticity'. For de Beauvoir, for too long, women had lived their lives in bad faith, which had been imposed upon them by men
Key Works: The Second Sex (1949)
This examined biology, history, literature, psychoanalysis etc.
Beauvoir studies the roles of wife, mother, and prostitutes to show how women, instead of transcending through work and creativity are forced into monotonous existences of having children, tending the house and being sexual receptacles of the male libido
Simone De Beauvoir's ideas
She developed the idea of women as the 'Other' and this idea of otherness was that men have characterised women as different, but different in a way of their choosing, not the choosing of the women themselves.
De Beauvoir famously declared that 'women are made, not born' and the problem was that they were made by men
women are linked by their bodies to the reproductive process and menstruation (alongside pregnancy and lactation) and this is a constant reminder that women are seen as the 'Other'
De Beauvoir rejects the notion that girls are born with any nurturing instinct and she asserted that they learn this from their parents and from their schooling
In existential terms, their freedom to choose their own way of life is removed almost form birth.
Men have determined the roles that women play
Men create and reinforce the myth of the 'Eternal Feminine' - what it is to be a woman, what motherhood is and what is expected of female sexuality
Men view themselves as the 'Self' aka the norm
Women have internalised this view of Self and Other and are complicit in their own oppression
De Beauvoir's solution
Women must be granted the opportunity to make as many choices as men and to be able to escape the drudgery of housework and their role in marriage as somewhat of a sex slave.
This will largely be achieved through education, economic freedom, state-funded childcare, legalised abortion and widespread contraception
Women must also seek to liberate themselves. they must seek sexual liberation and freedom from the strictures of the nuclear family
De Beauvoir's view on the key themes
Human nature: Gender differences are created by men in society and they are not natural
The state: the state reinforces a culture that prevents women from expressing their true freedom and identity
Society: De Beauvoir's existentialism dominated her feminism. Social constraints prevent individuals (not just women) from attaining self-realisation and true freedom
Economy: Men's domination of economic life restricts the life choices open to women
De Beauvoir's impact is important as her book 'The Second Sex' inspired much of the movement. Moreover, De Beauvoir inspired key feminist figures such as Betty Friedan