Yes , They are OthersPlato once said in his Republic that " the only difference between men and women is one of physical function- one begets, the other bears children। Apart from that, they both can and should perform the same functions (though men on a whole, perform them better) and should receive the same education to enable them to do so; for in this way society will get the best value from both.”
Our society has grown into a polar dichotomy system of male and female, where the former oppressing the latter and behave them as ‘other’ or similar to lower caste.
Patriarchy is just one of the hierarchies, where females are most oppressive in the traditional system. Feminist argument for sexual equality works in two directions. First, it exposes the ways in which patriarchy exploits the sexual difference to create systems of inequality and exposes the facts of sexual politics, which later leads to Feminism to fight against male hegemony. It also claimed that so long as the standard of equality is the male body, the discriminatory sexual difference remains in play. Second, it acts as a prime source for the gender theories ‘others’ theory developed by Simone de Beauvoire in later period.
Simone adopted the idea of ‘others’ from Hegelian theory. The German philosopher Hegel was among the first to introduce the idea of the other as constituent in self-consciousness, he wrote of pre-selfconscious Man: "Each consciousness pursues the death of the other", meaning that in seeing a separateness between you and another, a feeling of alienation is created, which you try to resolve by synthesis. The resolution is depicted in Hegel's famous parable of the master slave dialectic While giving stress to explain woman's definition as man's ‘other’ or her consequent oppression ,the same time Simone tackles the way in which the preceding analyses (biological, historical, psychoanalytic, etc.) contribute to the formulation of the myth of the "Eternal Feminine." This paradigmatic myth, which incorporates multiple myths of woman under it (such as the myth of the mother, the virgin, the motherland, nature, etc.) attempts to trap woman into an impossible ideal by denying the individuality and situation of all different kinds of women. In fact, the ideal set by the Eternal Feminine sets up an impossible expectation because the various manifestations of the myth of femininity appear as contradictory and doubled .But it is also true that for their "Eternal Feminine" women are forced to relinquish their claims to transcendence and authentic subjectivity by a progressively more stringent acceptance of the "passive" and "alienated" role .
I fully agree with Simone that only the women could free herself by “thinking, taking action, working, creating, on the same terms as men; instead of seeking to disparage them, she declares herself their equal." But my point of disagree that though women need the same status to man as Human being, I think, they have their own identity and they are different from man. They are ‘others’ in real definition but this is not in context with Hegelian definition of “others”.. It is, not always due to man’s "active" and "subjective" demands. They are the woman, unknowingly accept the subjugation as a part of ‘subjectivity’’
Simone herself also denied her statement in the discussion of The Ethics of Ambiguity .She discusses three particular inauthentic attitudes in which women hide their freedom in: "The Narcissist," "The Woman in Love," and "The Mystic." In all three of these attitudes, women deny the original thrust of their freedom by submerging it into the object; in the case of the first, the object is herself, the second, her beloved and the third, the absolute or God.I don’t believe its only masculine activities, but some biological facts also responsible for these slavery. But it is true that some of the social structures made the woman as “others”, if we consider these “others” as slave (as Hegel used the word to describe the actual position of slave) and I fully agree with Simone that only the women could free herself by “thinking, taking action, working, creating, on the same terms as men; instead of seeking to disparage them, she declares herself their equal." Another point of disagree that though women need the same status to man as Human being, I think, they have their own identity and they are different from man. They are ‘others’ in real definition but this is not in context with Hegelian definition of “others”.
I always want to paint the sexuality opposite to Indian patriarchy concept, where women sexuality is used for raising of children only and there was no seat for the womens’ sexual desire . . I think, sexuality has a major role in understanding feminism..Let us consider a girl’s condition in adolescent period.If she becomes pregnant, the male partner is not blamed for his role. It is the girl, who has to suffer. If she accepts the child, she has to suffer a lot in socially and if she goes for any abortion, she has to suffer emotionally for the rest of her life.In case of married woman, there are many restrictions with respect to sexuality whereas her male partner is free from these restrictions.Even now a days in Oriental countries, you can find most of the married woman are un known about their feeling of orgasm.If a female admits about her sexual pleasure, there may be every chance to misunderstand her as a bad woman by her own husband.She may be misunderstood for having pre marital sex.In the time of menopause, though except some biological phenomena, nothing has changed in sexual life , but a woman has to suffer a lot mentally thinking herself disable for sexually meeting with her husband. I think till now in Asian and African countries ,the patriarchy society has its control over sexuality .So, the women need two type of liberation. One is from financial slavery and another from sexuality. Women are always victims; men are oppressors. I believe in theory that "a woman's body, a woman's right.” that means women should control their own bodies and people should take them seriously.
