20 Replies to “Week 7 – Sex and Gender”

  1. “As Black feminists and Lesbians we know that we have a very definite revolutionary task to perform and we are ready for the lifetime of work and struggle before us”.

    I chose this quote because it basically summarizes the whole article. I can also strongly relate to this quote as a black female who is apart of the lgbtq community. We face many struggles for 1. Being anything but straight and 2. Being African American. In today’s world, being true to yourself can come with So much work and strength .

  2. “ But if Other is not to regain the status of being the One, he must be submissive enough to accept this alien point of view”. This quote highlights how sex is also a point of discrimination during the time. Where the women has been victim of the society. The women in the past and still today has been looking like an object in many Society.
    solution n about of this situation of discrimination by gender is be in the hand of the women because we are the only person that our action can stop all this discrimination. However, this situation can continue if the women continue to change their form of thinking. The psychology is the principal obstacle that women have. This happens because they come from a society where many years the women thought that they only can help their society
    being a submissive.

  3. The reading “Women as Other,” by Simone de Beauvior discusses a women’s role in society, how an early feminist took approach towards life, and how men perceive women. Simone states “And she is simply what man decrees; thus she is called “the sex” by which is meant that she appears essentially to the male as a sexual being. For him she is sex- absolute sex, no less. She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not to be with reference to her, she is incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the subject, he is the Absolute, - she is the other.” Simone de Beauvoir is claiming men dominate and oppose women defined as “the other.” De Beauvior argues how man tend to classify women as an object therefore they are viewed the same way in our society. The man manipulates and hurts the women and let she is still waiting to be saved by him. Therefore the man constantly rejects a women’s humanity and treats her like “the other.” Simones concept on feminism is still present today, certain women around the world do not have their freedom or human rights and are abused and tortured for expressing their views and beliefs. Some women are physically and emotionally abused by their spouse because they are scared and vulnerable in their situation, even sometimes speaking out for their rights is considered a wrongful act in certain places around the world.

  4. According to the article “The Second Sex’’ by Simone de Beauvoir says”My idea is that all of us, men as well as women, should be regarded as human beings.’ But nominalism is a rather inadequate doctrine, and the antifeminists have had no trouble in showing that women simply are not men. Surely woman is, like man, a human being; but such a declaration is abstract.” I choose this because man always treated women as they had to always stay cooking and taking care of their child and there job was to only work to pay bills. Now we live in a world where women and men are the same and has the same ability to work and bring money home. I have always said that all men and women are the same and also it don’t matter the color that don’t make nobody less than others. This was a brutality of years ago and we women had demonstrated we can.

  5. “In small-town eyes all persons not belonging to the village are “strangers” and the suspect;and the suspect to the native of a country all who inhabit other countries are “foreigners”; Jews are “different” for the anti-semite, Negroes are “inferior” for American racists, aborigines are “natives” for colonists, proletarians are the “lower class” for the privileged.”This quote from the reading “Women as Other,” by Simone de Beauvior describes how women are viewed as badly as all these other quoted named people are feeling. Men make them feel as if they were just every other thing and not important in society just because of their gender. Men think their superior and better just due to the fact that they are men. Men are also given more power than a woman. When in reality a woman is the one to bring human life to light.

  6. “The proletariat can propose to massacre the ruling class, and a sufficiently fanatical Jew or Negro might dream of getting sole possession of the atomic bomb and making humanity wholly Jewish or black; but a woman cannot even dream of exterminating the males. The bond that unites her to her oppressors is not comparable to any other”. – Woman as Other.

    This part of the article called my attention because, despite the fact that women have been fighting against male oppression for many years to have the same rights that men have today, they are not yet balanced as they should be. It is true, society is controlled by patriarchy and even if the feminist movement tries to fight against it in some cases it would be useless. We are destined to live with the oppressor. However, thanks to great marches and women with a voice of justice, we have advanced in this war to level the balance, but there is still much to be achieved since even the same article reflects it by separating society with labels, labels that prevent the society is seen as equals in order to create a harmonious state of peace. These labels are what makes some societies or races believe they are better than others and give them the right to treat others as unworthy.

  7. I have chosen the reading of Simone de Beauvoir, “Woman as Other” because,It significantly explains the distinctions between men and women. The role of men is considered dominant than women. As it states, “ Man can think of himself without woman. She cannot think of herself without man”..”she is simply what man decrees; thus she is called “the sex”, by which is meant that she appears esstentially to the male as a sexcual being. For him she is sex-absolute sex, no less. She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her”… “He is the absolute-she is the other”.
    This demonstrates the idea that women do not have the substantial value in the lives of men. Women only appears “sex” to men. So, when men get what they need, women are left with nothing. Women don’t have a voice in society to speak for themselves and their rights. They are considered “the other”, which means that men refers women as an object, that does not have any feelings or worth in anything. Basically, in most parts of the world, men refer themselves as the leader of the society as they can do whatever they want. Simultaneously, men can live on their terms without women but most of the parts women always relies on men. Such as in many societies, men are not considered wrong or bogus, whereas women are considered an object. Women are being isolated from their emotions and rights that does not have any value in society. Mainly, they are not appreciated for what they have to go through as fighting for their rights, being abused etc. Plus, they are not encouraged to express themselves as what they want or what they think is right or wrong for them. And be able to do things of their choices.

  8. In the article name women as other by Simone di beauvoir talks about how women does not have their own identity which is also the reason why women in our world have no equality in anything. On page 344 it said” thus humanity is male and men defines women not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous”. this means that even the women get introduce by a man relatives but not by her own name. This shows how there are no value for women which cause them lack of being independents and that makes the result of not having their own place in this world because they does not have that option and ability to do so.

  9. In the article “Others Object” by Simone de Beauvoir states that “ But women are not a minority like the American Negroes or the Jews; there are as many women as men on earth.” I chose this quote because when there are same ratios of women as men on the earth. Why women are not being treated equally just like men?

  10. “Equality of men and women is something that cannot happen even in the abstract world. Men are not equal to other men, i.e. ability, experience or even understanding. The value of men and women can be seen as in the value of gold and silver—they are not equal but both have great value. We must realize that men and women are a complement to each other because there is no house/family without a man and his wife. Both are essential to the development of any life. “ There are a few components to this quote in terms of equality and the reason I chose this quote was because of the idea of realizing that men and women are a complement of each other and both are necessary, while I don’t necessarily agree that the value of men and woman aren’t or can’t be of equal value I think the idea that both men and women are essential to the development of life is true. Moreover, I don’t think that equality among men and women is something that cannot happen also measuring equality as terms of ability, experience and understanding is confusing because no two humans are exactly alike and everyone has something of value they can offer to society. While achieving equality is certainly difficult I don’t think is impossible seeing the amount of progress that has occurred historically. I think that is simply lack of education that leads to inequality and if people educate themselves and their children as we have been doing in our recent times equality among men and women doesn’t have to be something that can’t be possible.

  11. In the reading “Woman As Other” by Simone de Beauvoir, there is a primary focus and theme of the oppression of women in society by men. It takes cultural differences into account and compares the oppressions that Jewish individuals, native Americans, and African Americans faced from respective tyrants. The quote ” She is defined and differentiated with reference to man and not he with reference to her; she is the incidental, the inessential as opposed to the essential. He is the subject, he is the absolute – she is the other” (p. 345-346). This quote exemplifies Beauvoir’s writing overall. Women are viewed as second to men – men are seen as the primary being in society. In today’s society, women are viewed as incomplete and have not reached success if they do not ‘settle down’ in marriage. When women wed, they are bombarded with questions of bearing children – our successes in a career is not seen as the primary focus in life. On the other hand, it is the opposite for men. Their primary focus and pressure from society is on achieving success in a career field while living a bachelor lifestyle.

  12. In a brief summary of “Confessions of a bad feminist” and “Combahee River”. A quote that I picked was, “I would rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all”. This quote symbolizes the fight for women’s rights. No one should judge your way of feminism, you’re all fighting for the same movement, equality of sexes. You do it however you feel like it. Another important point is the even higher racial, sexual, heterosexual, and class oppression struggle that black feminist go through. Woman of color face a harcer combat to equal rights.

  13. The main theme Simon de Beauvoir presents in this passage is that it is only through the man that the woman exists. A man without a woman is still a man, but a woman without a man is no longer a woman, she is detached from her relations and thus labeled as the other, one in which allows the man to assert dominance and power into a social hierarchy. The quote “she cannot think of herself without man” summarizes not only the passage but what women were going through during that time period in which they were fighting to be equal to men, and also have their own voice in society.

  14. In the text “woman as other” by Simone de Beauvoir, what I found most interesting was the first paragraph, how he starts the whole text with “Thus humanity is male and men defines woman not herself but as relative to him” this means that for many centuries women have been seen as part of something and never as their whole self, they were never “enough” to be considered a whole. Women were raised from little girls to be a great house wife and mother, they were taught how to cook and clean while the boys were sent to schools to study and learn. For many years women were taught to obey to someone, they would never have their own opinion, since they were born they were dependent on their mother or father, and little are turning 15 they would be sent to marry, and then depend on their husbands. Women weren’t allowed in schools to learn, or allowed to vote, or even have a job. Most women were looked down if they didn’t have a husband and kids to raise. Simone de Beauvoir uses this as the first sentence to capture the readers attention and to show that for many years women have been treated so much less than the men. They have been seen as part of a man but never as themselves, the man always had control of a woman’s life but never the other way. He continues this thought after quoting Michelet with “she is simply what man decrees[….] For him she is sex absolute sex. No less” Beauvoir explains that woman is used as a sexual object, they were raised believing that they’re priority is to have kids. For men they are only sex. Even years after women were used as propaganda, they are shown in tv and magazines to attract costumers, each more provocative than before. Simone de Beauvoir shows in his introduction how for many centuries women were always seen less than men. They were never a whole but a part of men and were always treated less like if they weren’t good enough to vote, work, study, or even own a household.

  15. From reading the two articles along with the feminist video, i came to the conclusion that women were judge based on everything they did. In the article “Combahee River Collective statement” black feminist have spoke about their feelings and what type of class they are in or portrayed as. Simone de Beauvoir talks about how women cannot be compared to men. ” thus humanity is male a man defines women not in herself but as relative to him she is not regarded as a autonomous being”. I picked this quote because it explains how women were portrayed. In the video Roxanne Gay, she describes what feminism was and how women were treated.

  16. According to the article “The Second Sex’’ by Simone de Beauvoir says”My idea is that all of us, men as well as women, should be regarded as human beings.’ But nominalism is a rather inadequate doctrine, and the antifeminists have had no trouble in showing that women simply are not men. Surely woman is, like man, a human being; but such a declaration is abstract.” This quote explains that how women only job was to be the housewife and maintain her husband and children. But now we all live in an environment where women and men are now equal and are now treated somewhat the same.

  17. “We struggle together with Black men against racism, while we also struggle with Black men about sexism”.
    The reading ‘Combahee River Collective Statement’ is full of all the obstacles that women of color face as feminists. African American women fight for liberation and survival. White feminists tend to leave the racism part out of their movement and focus more on what is personally affecting them (white middle-class women). Black lesbian feminist has more burdens, for example, struggling with African American and white men sexism. The American political system has a negative relationship with the NBFO. Unlike white women, black feminists did not have anything to rely on to start this movement.
    I learned a lot from the clip by Roxane Gay she talks about all of the ways our system negatively stigmatized feminism. Society has now made some women uncomfortable in showing support to feminists because of all of the backlash it gets. Gay says we can take a stand to stop music, media, entertainment, and society from treating us and projecting us like we are worthless. Gay points out that our society makes women economically vulnerable on purpose.

  18. “Thus humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being.” Woman as Other by Simone de Beauvoir. I believed that when the author say other meaning woman, he is basically saying that woman are under the control of men legally, for example, in the early 1900 women could not even vote in the United States for their president but then they get it in 1919. but by that was not the only thing that avoid women from being independent from the men, because there were several job already assigned for them, they did not have that most choice. could most of the jobs where only for men, and most the jobs with high income. During this era, woman were depending on male to make decisions almost in everything and they were rarely recognized. But today we see more equality between male and females and new laws has been created it to protect woman right to the same equality males have in our society.

  19. In Roxanne Gay’s Ted talk in “Confessions of a Bad Feminist” she breaks down how she her self has problems enforcing her cause and how she can’t refrain from the rap music that is derogatory towards women. She feels terrible about it and goes on to tell everyone that it wasn’t her as individual but the society as a whole as completely setup this system. She knows that norm will not change unless woman stand up and continue fighting for the change to actually happen. She then goes on to point out something really touching for everyone even though she’s hasn’t been living up to the word “feminist” she’s still has not forgotten the cause.

  20. What stood out to me was when he wrote “my idea of us men and us women should be regarded as human beings” this is saying how he wants men and women to be equal and doesn’t want sexism to get in the way of that.

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