We Are Not Born Submissive

Hi, my name is Jessica Blanchett and for the context, Book report, I chose to read,

We are not born submissive while the

patriarchy shapes women's lives by man In Garcia

through a close rate analysis of Simone de Beauvoir's The second sex

Garcia explores the divisive subject of female submission.

She uses techniques of critical inquiry and

dissect the issue by using different frameworks

with this research,

she is able to map out and explain why some women seemingly

choose to be submissive and how the gender hierarchy shapes women's lives.

What is at stake is not to determine once and for all,

whether women are victims or fighters,

whether men are guilty or not,

whether what matters is the individual or the social structure.

On the contrary to examine women's submission to men is to study

the complex ways in which gender

hierarchies and society shaped women's experiences.

In an interview with Manuel Garcia and

Katrina Forrester for the Harvard Harvard bookstore,

um Garcia states that because of the original release of the book in France, before,

is now taught there in schools as a philosopher.

Um she was previously absent from the curriculum and

viewed mostly as an outdated second wave feminist who's

ideas where

not relevant currently, even though they were foundational for feminist theory.

Um Garcia's work is mostly qualitative

um if not completely qualitative,

her frameworks.

She looks at philosophy,

um political theory and phenomenology with a feminist lens

within philosophy.

Um Simone de Beauvoir's Garcia's primary focus,

but she also looks at Beauvoir is contemporary and actually her longtime partner,

jean paul Sartre,

with whom before departs from in some fundamental ways.

She also compares other philosophers such as Plato and Rousseau

um with political theory.

Um she often references Catherine Mackinnon who studied

the law and impacted laws on sexual harassment.

Mm hmm.

Um with phenomenology,

um this is a particular importance to Garcia as

she finds the study of women's individual experiences um

fill in a lot of the gaps within contemporary

feminist theory and philosophy on the issue of submission.

She most mostly uses critical inquiry

through the close reading of Simone de Beauvoir's the second sex.

She builds her philosophy by comparing relevant philosophers, theorists,

frameworks and contemporary events

um such as the Me Too movement to come to

new conclusions about how the patriarchy shapes women's lives.

Her specific focus is on heterosexual relationships within Western societies.

Her reasoning is explained in a couple of quotes,

accusations of submission have been part of an imperialist

process of uttering women from non Western worlds.

Um and because she sees heterosexual relationships as the

ultimate locus of the oppression of women by men.

Um

The author Martin Garcia is

a professor of philosophy at Yale University.

The subjects she researches are political philosophy, moral philosophy,

feminist philosophy,

philosophy of economics,

questions in 20th century french philosophy, critical theory, Social sciences,

phenomenology and the book is actually adapted from a chapter of her dissertation

Called consenting to one submission. A philosophical problem.

The issue of women's submission is multifaceted.

The women and men are technically equals under the law.

There are glaring contradictions that women experience on a day to day basis.

At the same time,

women are called upon to be free to have their

own careers and to refuse any degrading treatment from men

to be an attractive sexual object. An obliging wife, a perfect mother,

classic philosophy fails to explain the experience of the submissive

and contemporary discourse strays away from the

issue because they can't account for the

apparent choice some women make to be submissive without taking away their agency.

Um Simone de Beauvoir was most widely known for her work,

The second sex that deals with women's position as being other from men,

though she didn't identify as a feminist until later.

This work is foundational and feminist theory.

She was very involved in the philosopher writer,

existentialist movement in the 40s and 50s.

Simone de

Beauvoir's philosophy is

um guide Garcia's approach as she examines the issue of female submission

and as a believer in the impact of phenomenology.

She looks closely at the second Sex,

but also at Beauvoir's memoirs for a personal account of her experiences as a woman

smart.

This is a quote from Garcia

in her book.

Um it just seems at first glance impossible to use existentialism to analyze

and critique women's oppression because starts

systematic and individualistic take on existentialism,

um does not allow it.

You are, however,

it transforms existentialism in a way that it becomes politically powerful.

The second sex is therefore not an application of Sartre's philosophy,

but an original philosophical work that redefines existentialism.

No,

Um to demonstrate some of the ways in which men on Garcia builds her research,

I will closely look at Chapter three of the book that examines

one of hers and Barbara's main tenants of their philosophies.

And just a note on her use of sex instead of gender.

And her liner notes,

she states that Before Rights before the creation of the sex gender distinction.

So, when referring to Beauvoir's work, she will use the term without it,

meaning that sex differences biologically grounded.

Um Garcia starts the chapter by connecting

her search to define women's submission.

By examining before Zehme and writing the second sex, which is to define

what a woman is.

The previous chapter looked at the link between femininity and submission,

and this chapter seeks to break down and reject common

essential ist ideas of an essential and unchanging feminine nature

as that philosophy is at the root of the binding of femininity with women

by examining different types of essential is um

she compares them to Barbara's ideas and is

able to deduce that before rejects essential is um

um from there,

Garcia examines the next frameworks that make the most logical sense to look at

um nominal ism and social constructionism because in

a way they're the opposite of essential is um

and here she compares Beauvoir's idea to political theorist

Catherine Mackinnon and women's studies Pioneer Judith Butler,

who believe that

um only social organization dictates the difference between women and men.

Um Garcia notes how before does not fully reject this idea,

but she also doesn't endorse it

before, it does not deny difference,

but she also will not attribute value to those differences.

Um and this leads to one of Beauvoir's main

tenants of her philosophy and her original position.

Um she talks about the situation that women are in.

Um Before we get there,

you have

to explain this.

Garcia looks at high diggers influence on Beauvoir's philosophies

with his view on the relationship between the individual and the world.

In opposition to a classical philosophical idea that

the individual exists first and then creates their world.

Heidegger denies us and believes that humans are absorbed and involved in the world

and that others are always already there.

The second part of hijackers,

philosophy that is important to before has to do with the

influence of social norms and how these behaviors we engage in

without thinking about them, direct our positions in life and exist in the world,

before we do

um within

we are not born submissive at this point.

Um Garcia will look back at Beauvoir's writings, to shed light on her analysis that

um even though these norms exist, they are not fixed,

they're just a product of history.

Mhm.

Um and this brings us to

one of the main tenants of

Beauvoir and Garcia's

philosophy um to be a woman is therefore to be in a certain economic,

social and political situation,

the situation implies a set of norms according to which women are

conditioned to behave and on the basis of which they are judged

to be a woman, A real woman implies conforming to these norms,

and in the same way one questions the nature of a tool When it stops working,

a woman's femininity

starts being questioned when a gap appears between her behavior

and the behavior that is socially prescribed to her.

Yet what is the behavior prescribed to women in society, submission?

Um Here Garcia examines how before looks at sex difference as a whole,

without choosing one framework as better at accounting for it than another

through this viewpoint,

she looks at Beauvoir's works and asks what the situation means,

How is it built from the perspective of men

and how this situation is lived?

By examining this interdisciplinary viewpoint and

comparing the philosophers that influenced Beauvoir

as well as Beauvoir's own memoirs and writings, Garcia, as a researcher,

is able to delve deeper into her own understanding of submission.

Um And one of

Good bars most famous quotes in her exploration of what a woman is,

one is not born, but rather becomes a woman.

Um some final notes on the book.

Um the way that she forms and builds her ideas is masterful by explaining

different theories and not just referencing them

and by providing much needed context.

Um Garcia

increases accessibility for the average reader

to understand these really complex topics

And though she focuses on the philosophies of a white French writer from the 50s,

she acknowledges bias, privilege and intersectionality

and integrates these ideas to acknowledge and name

different types of oppression that affect women's equality.

Um and this adds validity and displays her deep understanding

of social hierarchies that go beyond just women's issues.

Um If you'd like to hear more about her process and philosophies,

I really recommend watching this interview that

was put on by the Harvard bookstore.

The link is right here, you can always look it up to

and

that is all.

Thank you so much.

We Are Not Born Submissive

Chapters

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