De Beauvoir

In this week's reading De Beauvoir identifies that a cause of women's inability to organize is that there was no historical event that marked the beginning of the subjugation of women. There is no memory of "independence" because life never existed without men, and ridding the world of men is not a possibility. Since the time De Beauvoir wrote this article, women have found a powerful collective identity, and the idea of feminism has saturated every corner of life.

LIke the 30 rock episode, however, what feminism means exactly is still pretty unclear in the public. When ordinary people think feminists, they usually think of women who reject men, women who make a point to act the opposite of what we would expect from a woman, or lesbians. However, I think that those who feel it necessary to act like a man in order to "be a feminist" are misguided in what it means to be a feminist. Although women have formed a powerful coalition and have shown the world what they're capable of, what it means to be a powerful woman or a feminist is still not as clear. When I think of a powerful woman, I think successful businesswoman dressed in a business suit, but as soon as you put a stereotype or label or certain "look" to it, I think may veer away from the whole spirit of feminism of discovery and acceptance of all manifestations of gender and sex.