Analysis Of ' The Second Sex '

Louise Halfe’s “Body Politics” challenges the qualities and behaviour of the idealized feminine woman by contrasting the stereotypical “city woman” with a more masculine “real woman.” The poem’s speaker describes her mother’s opinion of what it means to be a real woman, which is seen through “Mama said.” Throughout the poem, the speaker uses vivid imagery to create a stark contrast between the idealized feminine “city woman” and a “real woman” who does not conform to the feminine gender norm. To begin with, the title of the poem itself can be viewed as an obvious critique of the feminine ideal. By definition a body politic is a group of people “considered as a collective unit” (Merriam-Webster). This is significant because in Butler’s theory, she emphasizes that a person’s gender can vary depending on a given situation, and therefore women cannot be grouped together and defined exclusively by their feminine qualities. Instead, she argues that women should be viewed as individuals capable of possessing both masculine and feminine behaviour. This belief relates directly to the poem’s title, as Halfe is clearly making a statement on the manner in which patriarchal societies expect women to conform to a singular feminine ideal. Moreover, it illustrates how women’s bodies become a political site for the masculinist culture to impose feminine gender on. With consideration to the title’s reference to a homogeneous group of women, it is interesting that stanzas two through four all

The mind is shaped by those with which one surrounds him or herself. This is a result of the human desire to see oneself in others as a tactic to relate and discover commonalities. The inclination to build relationships and connect to other humans is so strong that people become dependent on external gratification, even in environments where acquaintances do not necessarily reflect a person on the most basic level: sex. Due to overpowering masculinity, women oftentimes submit to the ideals of their male counterparts and the societal expectations pushed onto them as women in a patriarchal society. Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones displays that the feminine inferiority complex is not innate, but rather is informed by external forces.

“The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved” (Matthew Henry). Gender roles are how each human is supposed to act, speak, or dress according to their assigned sex. The world has always depended on them to make crucial decisions and they have marked every aspect of society. Several people have taken advantage of gender stereotypes to determine what to do with their lives or to come up with excuses as to why they are carrying out a task. Literature is one of the main agents that exposes human attitude towards life. It has been affected by time

Females of this generation are being raised in a world where women’s bodies are viewed as objects.

“The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of a women begins when the doctor says, ‘It's a girl!’” Women are forced to conform to a set place in society, and the pressure they feel to conform starts when they are born.

The commonly held theories that women are inferior to men, because they lack the strength of character, mind, and body that men are attributed to having, are misleading for many reasons. To assume that men are superior in these three aspects is to assume that all men and women equally share the same strengths and weaknesses of their entire sex. To do this one must accept the fact that all

The Lenses of Gender by Sandra Bem begins by introducing the three lenses that will be discussed in the book: androcentrism, gender polarization, and biological essentialism. The most significant aspect to this reading was the concept of females being an addition to males or the ‘other’. Specifically, this idea is derived from a biblical view. When taking a look at the creation of man and the story of Adam of Eve, “Adam is explicitly given the power to name--that is, define--every single creature on earth, including women… Adam is unambiguously said to be created in God’s image. Eve, in contrast, is an inferior departure from this godly standard,” (Bem, 1993, p. 46) This perception of females being below the male standard carries out throughout

Her constant use of tying metaphor to common perception allows the reader to dig deeper and question their own and their communities psyche surrounding this subject. Biss is able to weave together so many aspects of our society into a cohesive whole that explains the metaphor of immunity vs. inoculation, self vs. nonself. For example, she is able to bring forward common current controversial topics such as gender and racial equality and easily tie it into the main theme of the book. For example: “…A 1912 definition of biological individuality as the quality of being ‘rendered non-functional if cut in half,’ Donna Haraway observes that this requirement of indivisibility is problematic for…women… Their personal, bounded individuality is compromised by their bodies’ troubling talent for making other bodies… One of our functions, as women, is to be divided” (125-126). This unique perspective on a reason for sexism is related to back to the misconception in our society that our bodies are independent of the environment around us. Thus, substantiating the misinformed “self vs. nonself” idealogy.

Throughout the years women have always been seen as a lesser value on comparison to men. Women are always shaped and molded a certain way to society’s liking. They have been told to act and behave a certain way because that is what is expected of them. Of course there is also the view of certain women that like to fit those expectations. Yet for men, they are influenced and respected when they act as they please and stand out from other men. It is extremely unfair to discriminate women and push them into being a certain way when women have so much potential to offer. Women back then and even now are being limited to a life that is already chosen for them. They are given an ideal as to how a women should behave and

Men and women often use their bodies in different ways, this is not breaking news. However, the reasons and consequences behind this difference is important. The situations women will often put themselves in will vary greatly from men because of the perceived abilities of our bodies. Most women would not accept a job on a construction site because of a lack of belief of what the female body is capable of. Similarly, women who apply to these types of jobs are often not hired. When lifting objects, or using force to accomplish a task, we “frequently fail to summon the full possibilities of our muscular coordination, position, poise, and bearing.” (pg. 26) This is, in part, because “feminine bodily existence is overlaid with immanence.” (pg. 29) Instead of using her whole body, a woman will “concentrate motion in one part of the body alone, while the rest of the body remains relatively immobile.” (pg. 29) While men often experience the full ability of their bodies, and therefore, can fully accomplish, without issue any task they want, this is not often the case for women.

While in the Women and the Body course, I was able to dissect the images, constraints, and beliefs associated with the woman’s body. The debate over body image originated from patriarchal constraints, deeming that women have to fit into an ideal of womanhood. A woman’s body image is suppose to be a direct link to the man she is with. She should have childbearing hips, a stature that is associated in being motherly, and breasts to breast feed the children. With that it grew into using man made objects to reinforce the patriarchal power about body

Young’s text centered on the concept that women are restrained from exercising their full potential as human beings. In a focal statement of her text, Young suggested “the modalities of feminine bodily comportment, motility, and spatiality exhibit [a] tension between transcendence and immanence, between subjectivity and being a mere object” (32).

When thinking about the differences between a man and a woman the first thought that comes to mind is the most obvious one. They differ biologically, which includes genetically, hormonally, chemically, and through their main hormones. To start, one must consider the difference between the terms sex and gender. Sex refers to the biological difference between males and females. The chromosomes of XX for females and XY for males, the reproductive organs of ovaries for females and the testis for males and the various hormones of estrogen for females and testosterone for males. Gender however refers to the societal differences that are imposed on by culture. Therefore, a person’s sex cannot change from birth, but their gender can. Although there

Sexuality and gender for many seem to go hand and hand. With the breakdown of gender being defined by our biological sex or legally documented gender identity and sexual orientation relating to the gender or genders that we favor, it is understandable that this could happen. Our society often allows for sexuality to be gendered, through things like stigma, stereotypes, expectations, and limitations. Sexuality is gendered for men and women, but seems to provide more noticeable limitations for women regardless of sexual orientation. Men seem to have their sexuality questioned and experience elements of stigma and expectations more often.

Lorber and Martin use social construction feminism to explain how bodies are used as cultural signifiers to identify a person’s gender status. This theory focuses on how society constructs the idea of gender based on accepted notions of what is “masculine” and “feminine.” The term gender is used as a distinguisher from biological sex and is one of the most important factors when researching how bodies are used to emit masculinity or femininity. Gender refers to the socially accepted norms of what defines femininity versus what defines masculinity, whereas biological sex refers to the reproductive organs assigned to an individual (regardless of personal sexuality identifications). In this chapter