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Something that comes up in each of the articles is how being made into a monster, the “other”, causes a loss of one’s own identity, or maybe more appropriately, a loss of control over one’s identity. And I think de Beauvoir really hits this point well when, in her conclusion, she states “woman could not be other than what she was made”. Which makes me think that these monsters, these marginalized people, even though they are outside of the “norm”, they are still controlled by it. How does a monster break from their constructed identity and take control of it?

Besides, that I really liked de Beauvoir, and I wasn’t expecting to. I usually wary of works that held in high regard in the “canon”. One of the things I enjoyed the most was that, that I can remember, this is the first thing we’ve read that tries to tackle the meaning of “feminity” or what it means to be a woman. It seems really appropriate considering part of the discussion held on Tuesday.

I also thought it was interesting that de Beauvoir ended the article with “brotherhood”, not sisterhood or even “humanhood”.