What's It Going To Take?

In the article we read for Tuesday’s class, Introduction To The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, there were a few lines that really stood out to me at the beginning. A quote from Aristotle stated “the female is a female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities…we should regard the female nature as afflicted with a natural defectiveness” (pg. 88) while a few lines later the article said “humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him” (pg. 88).

What I am about to say is very obvious. However because it is so simple, I think it is sometimes overlooked. When women are viewed as the other, the lesser version of man, the second sex, it is impossible to overcome inequalities because the people who believe in this idea do not see inequality. Instead, they see a structure that is rooted in tradition and a system that for a while was able to continue unscathed without being questioned or challenged. This leads me to wonder whether having every single woman in the world is enough opposition. Unfortunately it seems that since the society we live in is still a patriarchal one, unless the majority of men join in on the attempts to make alterations, not much will get done. Although this is very pessimistic, support from men seems necessary in the fight because right now the power lies with their sex.

After class on Tuesday I started thinking about situations where men and women are held to different standards and because it is the norm, it isn’t questioned. We’ve talked in class about job interviews, door openings, classroom environments, and other various situations. Is it possible that baby steps will lead to change or is radical action necessary? When circumstances and attitudes are so set in their ways what does it take to create tangible change? Support from the oppressors?