We Are Not Born Submissive: How Patriarchy Shapes Women's Lives
- ISBN-10
- 0691223203
- ISBN-13
- 9780691223209
- Category
- Philosophy
- Pages
- 248
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2023-01-24
- Publisher
- Princeton University Press
- Author
- Manon Garcia
Description
A philosophical exploration of female submission, using insights from feminist thinkers—especially Simone de Beauvoir—to reveal the complexities of women’s reality and lived experience What role do women play in the perpetuation of patriarchy? On the one hand, popular media urges women to be independent, outspoken, and career-minded. Yet, this same media glorifies a specific, sometimes voluntary, female submissiveness as a source of satisfaction. In philosophy, even less has been said on why women submit to men and the discussion has been equally contradictory—submission has traditionally been considered a vice or pathology, but female submission has been valorized as innate to women’s nature. Is there a way to explore female submission in all of its complexity—not denying its appeal in certain instances, and not buying into an antifeminist, sexist, or misogynistic perspective? We Are Not Born Submissive offers the first in-depth philosophical exploration of female submission, focusing on the thinking of Simone de Beauvoir, and more recent work in feminist philosophy, epistemology, and political theory. Manon Garcia argues that to comprehend female submission, we must invert how we examine power and see it from the woman’s point of view. Historically, philosophers, psychoanalysts, and even some radical feminists have conflated femininity and submission. Garcia demonstrates that only through the lens of women’s lived experiences—their economic, social, and political situations—and how women adapt their preferences to maintain their own well-being, can we understand the ways in which gender hierarchies in society shape women’s experiences. Ultimately, she asserts that women do not actively choose submission. Rather, they consent to—and sometimes take pleasure in—what is prescribed to them through social norms within a patriarchy. Moving beyond the simplistic binary of natural destiny or moral vice, We Are Not Born Submissive takes a sophisticated look at how female submissiveness can be explained.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2021-03-30
- 248 pages
- Paperback
- Princeton University Press
Similar books
-
Ecofeminist Philosophy: A Western Perspective on what it is and why it Matters
By Karen WarrenWijkman and Timberlake , Natural Disasters , 27 . 32. Wijkman and Timberlake , Natural Disasters , 49 . 33. Seager , New State of the Earth Atlas , 121 .
-
Each Day a Renewed Beginning: Meditations for a Peaceful Journey
By Karen Casey7. Sometimes the things that frighten you the most can be the biggest sources of strength. —Iris Timberlake or Most of us learn as we mature that strength.
-
Emerging Trends in Continental Philosophy
By Todd May28 It is therefore not difficult to reconcile Badiou«s references to historical ... On the one hand, Badiou«s major essays on Rancière all deal with the ...
-
Pierre Bayle's Cartesian Metaphysics: Rediscovering Early Modern Philosophy
By Todd RyanBayle offers a similar assessment in a letter to Minutoli: There has just been ... touchant la tran[s]substantiation, et leur conformité avec le calvinisme.
-
Negotiating a Settlement in Northern Ireland, 1969-2019
By John Coakley, Jennifer ToddHowever, acceptance of the deal was driven in part by threats of worse to come should agreement ... see Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Act 2006, s.
-
The Philosopher's Way
By Pearson Education, Pearson Education Staff, Inc.Several versions of Pearson's MyLab & Mastering products exist for each title, including customized versions for individual schools, and registrations are not transferable.
-
Swimmer in a Dark Sea
By Pierce TimberlakeTake a tour through the mind of America's undiscovered philosopher: Pierce Timberlake. Swimmer in a Dark Sea is a dizzying ride through a dazzling array of profound concepts.
-
Bringing Peace Home: Feminism, Violence, and Nature
By Karen Warren, Duane L. Cady"This collection of works is ambitious, well documented, thoroughly—though not turgidly—referenced, and comprehensively indexed.
-
Ecological Feminism
By Karen Warren, Barbara Wells-HoweThe essays in this volume deal with a wide variety of subjects - the essential distinction between the "ecofeminist" and the "ecofeminine," the link between violence and environmental exploitation, feminism's relationship to animal rights ...
-
Catharine Macaulay's Republican Enlightenment
By Karen Green6 Davies, Catharine Macaulay and Mercy Otis Warren, 228; Franklin Bowditch Dexter (ed.), The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, ...