Beauvoir

Eternal Feminine

Simone De Beauvoir was a woman that lived in the 1900’s. She wrote of something called the eternal feminine. This was a myth in all actuality that was around for many years. Surprisingly though, the myth remained the same and remained present even with things that were presented to de-bunk it. Much evidence built around the myth but it remained static and was unchanging.

The “eternal feminine”, was the idea that women are mysterious, unpredictable, and out of reach of being understood by a man. There were two groupings in essence, one being men and the opposite group referred to as “the other” (also known as woman) but considered “not man”. Mystery being the main part of the myth leads it to be completely pointless. Mystery does not really matter. If someone is mysterious or if they are not, does not really hold much authority in the real world. Mystery really does not describe how a person is or how they act towards others. It is just a describing word of pretty much nothing useful. This uselessness description really has no standing or importance and is an odd myth. Who cares if someone is mysterious? There is no reason that woman should have been underrated because men did not take the time or effort to understand a woman.

The myth is pointless and is just a way for men to try to lower women’s integrity but in a very uneducated, ignorant way. For as smart as men made themselves seem back then, it is surprising that a woman being “mysterious” was the best put down they could come up with.

Beauvoir, Simone De. “Myth and Reality.” The Second Sex. A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006. pp781-795.