The Second Sex By Simone De Beauvoir Analysis

“one is not born a woman, but rather becomes a woman” this is perhaps the line most often quoted from Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, and it raises interesting questions regarding womanhood. Simone de Beauvoir’s argument introduces the reader to a sex-gender distinction. The distinction between sex and gender is one of the most important feminist efforts to invalidate the common claim that anatomy is destiny; sex is anatomically distinct whereas gender is unnatural because is a cultural concept. Beauvoir argues that although biology allows females to experience life different than a man, being a woman is a cultural interpretation of being female. Authors like Simone De Beauvoir and Judith Butler emphasize that the female body is not the …show more content…
Similar to Beauvoir’s claim of sex-gender distinction, feminist author Judith Butler agrees that nobody is a given gender because of their biology. Butler discusses that the relationship between sex and gender as it serves the performativity of female/male identity. Butler claims that gender identity is constituted by performance. Gender Identity is produced through performance behavior regardless of biological differences. Therefore nobody is a given gender rather being a women or a man is an internal phenomenon that is being produced all the time. The becoming is a never ending cycle that is constantly being reconstructed and performed. Butler’s argument that gender can be acted out suggest that being women and being a man do not come naturally, rather one becomes. Gender and sexuality is not only performed but it is also performative; meaning that being a woman is not what causes one to act as a woman, rather than acting as a woman is what defines one. Gender and sexuality can also be acted out; Butler uses drag queens to make this point. The drag cannot be considered an example of a singular identity; in fact, the drag negotiates cross-gender identification, which can be perceived as …show more content…
Simone de Beauvoir emphasizes that there is no essential difference between man and women, even in their infancies boys and girls are not different or in any way act different because of their sex. However, over time their upbringing and society is where each sex learns their role in society. Beauvoir discusses that women learn their roles in society through men. The whole concept of a woman is a male concept, and the meaning of what it is to be a woman is given by men. To be a woman is a socially constructed by the expectation of males and what they define femininity as. Beauvoir argues that women are expected to strive after beauty, a beauty defined by men and what they desire woman to look like despite their education and transcendence. To be feminine is is to be weak, passive and docile. Girls are thought to repress her natural self and become a docile and charming. Beauvoir argues that a man’s appearance conveys his transcendence and status rather than to attract attention. Women on the other hand are required by society to make herself an erotic object. Women must invest money and time into their make up, dresses, and hairdos. Beauvoir furthers this argument by stating that woman know that when she is looked at she is judged and desire according to her appearance. The goal for fashion for a woman is to portray herself as a prey for male desire. Beauvoir explains