What You'll Learn:
Who is a woman beneath her makeup and beyond the societal roles she feels obliged to fulfill? Historically, women functioned as embodiments of the “Other,” or the negative counterpart to men. Defined by man as what men are not, women failed to develop their own sense of self and identity. Instead, they became mere pawns and romantic objects. Falling further behind in a society controlled by male values, women faltered at the foot of self-liberation. Conflicted and challenging, the work of existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir inspired the beginning of Second-Wave Feminism, tracking the conceptual evolution of the woman in Western civilization and sparking a conversation about womanhood that’s just as necessary today as it was in 1949.
Key Insights:
- Women are trapped in a binary—who they are not defines who they are.
- The mythic Woman is rooted in the land; when nature is conquered, so is Woman.
- Don’t fall for the trap of the manic pixie dream girl—she’s an illusion that must be shattered.
- Female workers sparked a shift in social equality.
- Femininity must fall for women to rise.
- Equality is a two-way street—both women and men are necessary to transform gender relations.
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