Tag Archives: Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex
Women in Real Life
“I hesitated for a long time before writing a book on women. … Are there even women?” So begins Simone de Beauvoir’s culture-upending book, The Second Sex, in French Le Deuxième Sexe, published in 1949 by Gallimard. Some years … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, Industrial Revolution, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mortality vs immortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Trauma, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged 20th century political movement, admitting women’s vulnerability, American political movement, American social movement, An American Bride in Kabul by Chesler, Barbara Seaman, Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, books on women, boys’ contemporary acculturation, claim that woman is social construct, collective guilt and feminists, creating space for women’s equality, creating space for women’s vulnerabilities, current courtship patterns, eros and contemporary philosophy, eros in Plato, femininity at risk, feminism and social courage, feminism and women’s protection, feminism and women’s rights in Islam, feminist concepts and women, feminists and femininity, feminists with unprotective concepts, first-wave feminism, Francine Klagsbrun, Fulbright Fellowship in Paris, girls’ contemporary acculturation, influence of Beauvoir, influence of The Second Sex, men claiming to be women, men in jail cells with women, men’s contemporary acculturation, men’s romantic destiny, personal life story, Phyllis Chesler, Phyllis Chesler and Afghan women, protecting women’s vulnerability, psychiatry and women’s rights, public feminists, reading Beauvoir in Paris, romance and antiromance, romance as the main event, second wave feminism, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, sympathy for women, sympathy for women’s vulnerability, the courtship dance, The Philosophy of Sex, The Woman Question, unprotective feminists, women and good advice, Women and Madness by Chesler, women and social values, women in the culture’s imagination, women’s biological vulnerability, women’s contemporary acculturation, women’s daydreams, women’s disappointments, women’s equality and biological fact, women’s hopes, women’s life stories, women’s rights, women’s rights in Islam, women’s rights in prisons, women’s romantic destiny, women’s social vulnerability
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Five Coins in the Fountain
Before feminism, girls in America were expected to be “popular.” But exceptionally, in my high school, I got an exemption. So, what high school did I go to? At that time, it was generally thought both democratic and fair to … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal’s Confessions of a Young Philosopher, activities for college credit, anti-feminist bigotry, artistic vulnerability, brainwashing, breaking women’s silence, Bronx High School of Science, commodification of women, courtship and self-disguise, dreams of a wedding night, eligibility for gifted high schools, expected to be popular, extracurricular activities, fear of losing femininity, feminine vulnerability, femininity and innocence, femininity as a duty, femininity as a skill, femininity at risk, Feminism, feminist manifesto, gifted young painter, girls and good books, girls with good minds, girls you can’t fool, high school dreams, high school Literary Club, husbands controlling wives, imaginary fears, imaginary fears and real dangers, innocence lost, intellectual girls, intelligent unsentimental girls, intuitive sensitive women and vulnerability, intuitive young woman, losing innocence, marital brainwashing, marital domination and victimization, not forced to be popular, obligation to be feminine, old maid, originality vs femininity, path-breaking vs femininity, planning to be wonderful, poetic and romantic young woman, poetic young woman, popular girls, post-marital muddying of painter’s colors, prefeminist self-blame in women, public schools for the gifted, putting husband through grad school, reading good books, romance in Rome, romantic dreams, romantic hopes, Rome’s Fontana di Trevi, sexism, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, Stepford wives, surviving feminism, surviving pre-feminism, teenage ambitions, the art of womanhood, the freedom of wives, The High School of Music and Art, the silence of women, the vulnerability of being feminine, three coins in the fountain, true love and the Fountain of Trevi, wedding night disappointment, wedding night hopes, wedding night reproaches, wedding night virginity, wife as patient, wife of a young doctor, wifehood and mental health, willed vulnerability, wives and women’s liberation, wives hiding their beliefs, women and self-condemnation, women friends, women not shocked by life, women who live up to their promise, women’s post-marital erasure, women’s stories
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Introduction to Womanhood
Lately, I’ve been going through a medley of sources on Woman’s condition. Est-ce que vous ne plaignez pas le sort des femmes? asks a character in a play by Alfred de Musset way back in 1833. Do you not pity … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged academic feminism, achieving one’s life project, cultural norms, cultural norms and women, current feminism, current feminist theory, Dumped: Stories of Women Unfriending Women She Writes Press 2015, external resistance, fallback plans, feminism and literature, feminist problematic, fiction as the mirror of reality, fictional short stories, fictional stories, foundations of feminism, gender and power relations, Gender Trouble by Judith Butler, get in touch with your feelings, getting one’s bearings, idealization and real-life, identifying one’s life project, identifying one’s predominant desire, ideology and real women, inescapable duty, inner resistance, language and gender relations, le sort des femmes, Les Caprices de Marianne by Alfred de Musset, life-shaping preference, light on the path for women, living a sincere life, living one’s story, living with purpose, living without purpose, mapping the feminist problematic, men and women in contemporary culture, men and women in present culture, mother-daughter love, mother-daughter relations, narrative and objectivity, negotiating one’s desires, negotiating one’s preferences, nineteenth-century fiction, obscuring the feminist problematic, oppression and dominance, patriarchy, pay as you go, perfection and reality, pity for men, pity for women, Plan A, second wave feminism, shaping a human life, shaping one’s life, sharing purposful lives, sharing purposive lives, sharing stationary lives, Short Story Masterpieces by American Women Writers Dover 2014, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, stationary lives, status of men, sympathy earned, sympathy for women, terrain of resistances, testing one’s sincerity, the female condition, the male condition, the romantic emotion, the search for purpose, the story of one’s life, the test of real life, theoretical thinking about women, third wave feminism, unbiased narrator, victimized women, woman’s condition, woman’s lot, womanhood, women and ideology, women and power relations, women and psychological theories, women dumped by women, women helping women, women misleading women, women supporting women, women unfriending women, women writers, women’s passivity, World of Desire
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Abortion on My Mind
Abortion on My Mind First, let’s approach this vexing topic from the metaphysical side. If we adopt the Aristotelian view of gestation (a view that, if I’m correct, was part of the thinking of Christian philosophers in the High … Continue reading →
Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, Biblical God, bigotry, books, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, courage, courtship, cultural politics, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, idealism, ideality, identity, male power, master/slave relation, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, terror, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist
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Tagged Abigail L Rosenthal’s Feminism Without Contradictions, Aristotelian view, asymmetry of the sexes, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Prey: Immigration, biology and feminism, biology and rights, biology and social constructs, chivalry and the Titanic’s sinking, Islam and the Erosion of Women’s Rights, male protectiveness, men as the enemy, metaphysics and social questions, metaphysics and the unborn, mother’s body, Phyllis Chesler’s An American Bride in Kabul, potentiality to actuality, right to choose, right to life, rights of the unborn, Roe v Wade, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, sisterhood is powerful, social coarsening, status of the unborn, status of zygote, Terri Shiavo, unsisterly women, when is it a person, when soul enters body, women and children first, women in Iran, women’s rights, women’s social power, women’s standing, women’s suffrage, women’s vulnerability
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