In taking a look at Feminism, we discussed Simone de Beauvoir and her book The Second Sex which focuses on women as "the other." In exploring feminity, de Beauvoir asks the question, "What is Woman?" She explores this meaning going beyond the basic gender issue and touching on the essence of femininity that women try to incarnate. We understand through her writing that the man defines the woman and that she is not autonomous. These two human beings are in a binary relationship and in trying to do away with the oppressor is not possible because they are interdependent on one another.
Susan Bordo explores the feminist discourse on the body. She argues that woman try too hard with the daily rigors of beautifying themselves through fashion, diet, and makeup and in the end chasing this ideal of femininity only results in "demoralization, debilitation and death." (2241)
Foucault's The History of Sexuality was discussed and how he is concerned with the order of things in language. His argument of discourse about sex has intensified since the eighteenth century. He argued that sex has not been repressed - it has been controlled through discourse. Foucault asks us to compare the priest to an analyst. Whereas he hears confessions that divulge the smallest temptations and desires.
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