Summary
This section is the longest in the book, and covers the different possible roles or situations for women in society: married woman, mother, socialite, prostitute or hetaera, or old woman. Across all of these chapters, de Beauvoir analyzes how these different roles affect the women who have to subscribe to them. She considers how these roles differ across history and culture, how different types of women adapt to these situations, and the ways in which each role is shaped by men and detrimental to women. Overall, she condemns each one of these situations for the ways in which, in their current form in society, they restrict and damage women.
In the fifth chapter of Volume II, Part 2, de Beauvoir discusses what aspects of modern marriage continue certain traditions that are oppressive to women. She characterizes the contemporary situation as a transition point, in which women have gained greater rights but continue to be treated unfairly in many ways. She explains that marriage remains unequal for women because it represents the only way for a girl to enter into society and be economically secure, while boys do not face the same pressure because they can work and live independently. Wives are expected to serve their husbands and take care of the house and children, instead of having their own interests or lives outside of the home. de Beauvoir points out that this means the wife can only interact with society through her husband, and has no sense of independence or future. She does not blame girls for choosing to marry instead of remaining single because she knows that marriage offers the most economic and social stability for them.
de Beauvoir also explains that women are often very conflicted about marriage because it is both beneficial and harmful to them. They often marry because they think they should, and end up in situations they did not expect. Because no one talks to them about what to expect, either from married life or from losing their virginity, many women feel violated by their first sexual experience with their husbands, and continue to feel miserable in their sexual relations. de Beauvoir also explains that most men are not in love with their wives, but rather think of them as property. Love and marriage generally do not go together for either gender because marriage is an oppressive and unequal institution. Marriage also destroys eroticism by making sex unpleasant for women and restrictive for men. To compensate for their lack of freedom outside the house, de Beauvoir claims that women often become domineering within the space of the home and fixate completely on housework. However, this work is largely meaningless because it does not create anything new or contribute to society, leaving women unhappy and unfulfilled overall. Throughout this chapter, de Beauvoir often references Sophia Tolstoy, the wife of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, to show how wives of creative men were reduced to a life that was in many ways the opposite of their husbands’.
In chapter 6, de Beauvoir analyzes how motherhood continues to restrict women’s already-limited freedom. She acknowledges that, for women, becoming a mother means fulfilling their natural duty, but reminds readers that true freedom comes from surpassing what is “natural.” de Beauvoir discusses how unfair it is for men to restrict access to abortions because of religious or moral reasons, while still blaming women for getting pregnant accidentally and expecting them to take full responsibility for such mistakes. She also claims that miscarriages and traumatic pregnancies are connected with a woman’s psychological well-being; for example, if women feel trapped and unhappy in their marriage, they are more likely to miscarry. de Beauvoir argues that women feel ambivalent about childbirth because it represents new life, but also the eventuality of their own death. She also explains that pregnancy can be fulfilling for certain women in all the wrong ways: they might feel like they finally have a purpose in life, but this is a dangerous mindset because, of course, pregnancy cannot last forever and thus cannot always provide women with a purpose. Often, women can be disappointed when the child is finally born and is not everything they expected it to be.
Some women can think of children as their double, or their reason for existing. This can become complicated as children get older because they develop their individuality and often disappoint their mothers. Motherhood can be positive if women approach it in a healthy way and do not expect their love to be reciprocated in the same way they offer it. However, this is rare, and more often de Beauvoir believes women take out their frustration on their children. Because women are so oppressed in their marriages, they often have suppressed instincts and frustrations that can flare up and negatively impact their children. The relationship between mothers and children is particularly complicated for mothers and sons, because a woman’s son will be able to surpass her in terms of education, accomplishments, and social access. Mothers are likely to try to control and limit their sons, while thinking of their daughters as their doubles and relating to them more closely. However, when either a son or daughter attempts to be independent of their mother, women can react negatively and try to stop this process. Thus, the oppression of women is negative both for women and for their children.
In chapter 7, de Beauvoir describes how marriage also limits women’s abilities to function in society. She claims that women can only try to show off and represent themselves to others in society, instead of having genuine connections with others. They express themselves through their wardrobes, which are often restrictive of movement and are designed only to make women appear attractive and limited. de Beauvoir argues that women’s clothes are so important because women are essentially thought of as decorative objects. However, de Beauvoir does acknowledge that women can be more genuine in their friendships with other women. They do not have to hide their real emotions around other women, the way they do with their husbands. Nevertheless, even these friendships are limited, because women live in a masculine world that limits their abilities to fully escape men’s grasp and be themselves. Thus, women often feel a rivalry with other women, since they are all competing for men’s attention, and this destroys women’s ability to remain true friends with one another. de Beauvoir believes that adultery and women’s relationships with lovers are also shaped by their lack of freedom within their marriages; according to her, women often have lovers in order to take revenge on their husbands.
In her fourth chapter, de Beauvoir analyzes women who become prostitutes or are famous for their appearance. She believes prostitution is also a response to the problems that exist in marriage; by sleeping with prostitutes, men are looking for more fulfilling sexual encounters outside of their boring marriages. de Beauvoir also describes the sad situation of many prostitutes, who are forced to turn to this profession because they have no other options. More high-class prostitutes with wealthy clients—who are generally referred to as courtesans or hetaera—face a more complicated situation than prostitutes do. In many cases, they are associated with art in some way. For example, de Beauvoir claims that movie stars are a type of hetaera because their career depends on their appearance. These women may have a certain type of independence because they are given economic support from many different men. However, they do not have a true purpose in life because they are not creating anything fulfilling or new, but rather just using their appearance to get by. Life for a hetaera is all a performance, and is therefore still unfulfilling and unequal to a man’s situation.
In her fifth chapter, de Beauvoir describes how old age changes women. She claims that most women fear aging because they depend on their appearance to get by in society. Old women are often faced with regrets, as well; they reflect back on a youth in which they were not able to accomplish anything beyond marriage and are generally frustrated with their situation. However, in some ways old age allows women greater freedom. They do not associate themselves as much with their physical bodies, and live more in their imaginations. Nevertheless, their situation remains tragic because they only gain these freedoms once they are too old to make use of them. For example, women discover their sexual preferences later, but cannot attract new lovers once they are older. de Beauvoir claims that, at this age, women place all of their hopes on their children and expect to live vicariously through them. This can be a negative situation for both the older mother and her child, as it is frustrating for both of them when the child wants to be more independent. For this reason, older women are often overly dominating of their children and children-in-law. de Beauvoir concludes this chapter on the discouraging note that women can never be both effective and independent at the same time.
In her sixth chapter, de Beauvoir summarizes how women’s situations in society impact their characters in general. Overall, she argues that the woman’s situation has remained largely the same throughout history, leaving her oppressed and unequal when compared to men. This means that her character has also remained mostly the same throughout history, since de Beauvoir believes that a woman’s character is shaped by her social situation. Overall, de Beauvoir describes woman’s character as: argumentative, petty, weak, immoral, selfish, and deceptive. However, she explains that women are like this because they must accept masculine authority, and this leads to many contradictions in their personalities and outlooks on life. Most of their faults are related to the fact that their opportunities are very limited. For this reason, much of feminine behavior should be interpreted as a protest against the masculine order. Women often turn to religion in order to find some peace with their situation. de Beauvoir concludes by arguing that women try to justify their existence by believing that their servile position is actually glorified by God.
Analysis
In her first chapter, de Beauvoir uses new kinds of evidence to support her arguments. She relies on surveys conducted in Belgium to prove that girls usually take initiative in pursuing marriage. These survey questions provide general and convincing evidence of her point that women push for marriage because it is more beneficial for them. Compared to her use of anecdotal evidence, this survey gives de Beauvoir’s readers more objective proof of her points. While her reference to literary scenes, incidents that affected her friends, or specific patients might be more vivid, her reference to this survey is more convincing because it makes use of quantitative as opposed to qualitative evidence. By including this amongst anecdotes, de Beauvoir shows that her points are supported by both kinds of evidence.
de Beauvoir’s first chapter on marriage shapes the rest of this long section. It is the longest chapter of the section, and lays the groundwork for the situations discussed in the other five chapters. de Beauvoir makes this clear upfront by referring to marriage as the defining factor for women’s positions in society. The length and breadth of this chapter emphasizes its importance for the section. This importance is also made clear by de Beauvoir’s frequent references to concepts first brought up in this chapter. In every other chapter, de Beauvoir analyzes how a woman’s role—as a mother, socialite, prostitute, or older woman—relates to the institution of marriage. The conclusions to each chapter also relate back to the concept of marriage. For example, when concluding her chapter on motherhood, de Beauvoir explicitly states that “conjugal relations, homemaking, and motherhood form a whole in which all the parts are determinant.”
In her second chapter, de Beauvoir occasionally repeats certain problematic conclusions about homosexuality. For example, she claims that some women are so traumatized by abortion that they become lesbians. Today, readers might object to this argument. It implies that homosexuality is a response to difficult life experiences, as opposed to a natural and normal sexual orientation, on par with heterosexuality. Her characterization of miscarriages and different physical symptoms of pregnancy is also scientifically unsound; she claims that women experience pregnancy differently based on their psychological well being. While there is some truth to the claim that mental health can affect physical health, de Beauvoir exaggerates this connection. In her fourth chapter, de Beauvoir also makes the questionable claim that prostitutes might generally have a lower IQ than other women. For all of these arguments, it is important to keep in mind that psychology was not as advanced in de Beauvoir’s time as it is today. Although de Beauvoir's text was foundational for second-wave feminism, there are certain concepts that later waves of feminism have discredited.
When she discusses “the woman’s situation and character” in her sixth chapter of this section, de Beauvoir speaks in general terms. Although she acknowledges that every woman is slightly different, she does apply stereotypes in order to speak of women as a whole. This may seem like unfair and irresponsible analysis to modern readers. However, it is important to realize that de Beauvoir is deconstructing these stereotypes to understand why so many people do believe that they apply to every woman. In this way, she is not accepting these stereotypes as valid or accurate, but rather is analyzing how they came to exist in the first place.
Throughout this section, de Beauvoir reminds readers of some key themes and concepts by repeatedly referring to them in her analysis. For example, she returns to the idea of women being perceived as objects in order to build her analysis of women’s positions in society. At the same time, she emphasizes the fact that it is women’s social situation that shapes their characters, and writes about the different ways in which such specific social situations affect women. She also returns to the idea of transcendence in order to argue that marriage prevents women from being able to transcend in the same way that men do, through their work outside the home. Finally, she ends the section by arguing that women’s positions in society force them to find “transcendence through immanence,” meaning they redefine their servile positions as something heavenly and glorious.
