Questions for October 11 responses:

In short essays of 150-200 words, respond to five of the the following six questions:

(1) Summarize the ways in which Simon de Beauvoir argues that "woman" is defined as "Other" in the "Introduction" to The Second Sex. Discuss some of the effects that this has on women, in her view.

(2) Discuss some examples, in de Beauvoir's account in Chapter 1, on Biology, of theories of human reproduction from Aristotle to modern science, and how these theories have been used in arguments that men are superior to women.

(3) Toward the end of Chapter 1, de Beauvoir discusses the experience of women, between the onset of puberty and the onset of menopause, as a sort of physical enslavement to the reproductive function, in which women's bodies are, in effect, at war with their personal individual development. For example, she writes:

Women experience a more profound alienation when fertilization has occurred and the dividing egg passes down into the uterus and proceeds to develop there. Ture enough, pregnancy is a normal process, which, if it takes place under normal conditions of health and nutrition, is not harmful to the mother; certain interactions between her and the foetus become established which are even beneficial to her. In spite of an optimistic view having all too obvious social utility, however, gestation is a fatiguing task of no individual benefit to the woman but on the contrary demanding heavy sacrifices.

What are some of the other examples by which de Beauvoir argues that reproduction is inimical to the individual freedom of the woman? Do you agree?

(4) Discuss the effect of de Beauvoir's dry, "scientific" rhetoric in this chapter or in the other chapters we have read. For example, do you find her comparisons of women's sexuality to that of men, of insects, frogs, monkeys, etc., shocking, funny, thought-provoking? Something else?

(5) Toward the end of her second chapter, on Psychoanalysis, Simone de Beauvoir writes: "We therefore decline to accept the method of psychoanalysis, without rejecting en bloc the contributions of the science or denying the fertility of some of its insights." What are some of the problems with psychoanalysis, according to de Beauvoir, and what are some of the insights that she finds useful?

(6) Describe and discuss any questions you have in response to these readings that remain unanswered after you have read the texts.