The Second Sex: Part One, Chapter One
Simone de Beauvoir
In Part One, Chapter One, “The Data of Biology”, Simone De Beauvoir inquires about the definition of women and responds with a classic male definition: “. . . she is a womb, an ovary: she is a female” (p.3). The author points out that from a male point of view, the word “female” is an insult, and she shows that this reaction limits a woman to a purely sexual definition. A man tends to look at biology for a justification for this definition. The author exemplifies these sentiments showing us that the world “female” refers to images of a monstrous ovum castrating a spermatozoon, a queen bee in which the male are killed or, like in the case of praying mantis, swallow by the female.
The author analyzes two questions: “What does the female denote in the animal kingdom?” And “what particular kind of female is manifest in woman?”(p.4). She states that the division of a species in two sexes, with the objective of reproduction, is not really clear, and points out that in nature many other animals use different systems of reproduction, such as multiplication (cellular division, and subdivision) as a way to reproduce. Other animals reproduce themselves by schizogenesis, which is the union or segmentation of an individual that creates a new one or by blastogenesis, which is the creation of a new organism base on a section of the parental body. In the case of the parthogenesis the female doesn’t need the male fertilization. The author points out that some scientists proposed that even in these species male fertilization was necessary to fortify the species, but the author shows that this hypothesis was disclosed as incorrect by recent research which shows that this asexual reproductive system can perform for ever without any degeneration of the spices showing the non necessity of the male.
The author points out that the existence of two gametes- like the sperm and the egg – don’t necessarily indicate the existence of two sexes. These two gametes can be produced by the same being like in a hermaphroditic species. However, some biologists defined the existence of the two sexes as a response of evolution, others debate about the superiority of the other system. The author states the importance of both systems to fulfill the survival concerns of the different species.
De Beavoir uses Hegel’s definition of woman as “an incidental being, suggesting with this the incidental nature of sexuality” (p.6), and continues referring to Hegel to define sexuality as a way for an individual to find a signification of herself in other individuals. According to Hegel, for this to happen, there must be sexual differentiation. Then the author analyzes Hegel’s discourse, implying that the problem with Hegel is comparing significance with necessity. She then points out that men give importance to sexual activity just as he gives importance to other functions.
The author refers to Merleau-Ponty, and points out that “human existence requires us to revise our ideas of necessity and contingence.” Existence, he says, “has no casual, fortuitous qualities, no content that does not contribute to the formation of its aspect; it does not admit the notion of sheer fact, for it is only through existence that the facts are manifested”(p.7). Then de Beauvoir states that we can consider the reproduction as something implicit to the nature of being, However, she says that the perpetuation of the species doesn’t need sexual differentiation.
The author refers to different myths about reproduction, and she describes Hippocrates and Aristotle’s theories in which reproduction is materialized as a male accomplishment, between a weak and a strong “seed”. The author presents theories from after the seventeenth century, in which the role of women was limited only as a receptor and sustenance of the new embryo. Not until the use of the microscope was the ovule defined, and cellular division and the union of gametes was observed.
De Beauvoir refers again to Hegel and his idea about the necessity of two different sexes, one passive and one active, and his emphasis on the tendency of man to allude to the “lively movements of the sperm”. Here the author refers to different experiments about parthogenesis, which shows the sperm as a simple reactant to initiate the development of the embryo, and she inquires, that in this case the sperm is not necessary for reproduction. However, she states that parthenogenesis is not more essential than sexual reproduction. Finally, she states that the only way we can grasp the meaning of sexuality is by “studying it in its concrete manifestation; and then perhaps the meaning of the word female will stand revealed” (p.9).
The definition of male and females depends on the gametes each of the individuals produce, and these two gametes develop from equivalent cells. It develops into sperm or ovule, and each of these contains a similar number of chromosomes. The sperm contains x and y chromosomes, meanwhile the ovule contains x and x chromosomes. During fertilization the egg contains two sets of chromosomes, which will determine the sex of the new individual - the 48 chromosomes in humans form later. The author shows that the female and male play identical roles in the hereditary context, so neither sperm nor ovule are superior to the other. The author describes the difference in size between the sperm and the egg, and describes the union of these two showing how the sperm lose its tail and is being absorbed and unified into the nucleus of the ovule. In response of the relevance of one gamete to the other, the author describes the active role of the sperm in fertilization, provoking new life in contrast the passivity of the egg as representing all the factors to maintain and develop life. The author states that both, in different ways, have the same rolls in procreation, and that this differences has been a source of theories about women and men rolls in society, and declares that these analogies are more the result of the philosophy of nature from the Middle Ages.
De Beavoir states that the determination of sex during fertilization can be affected by the environment, and gives as an example of the bees and ants. These species are affected by nutrition, which determine if a larva is going to be an asexual worker or a fertile queen. In contrast, in vertebrates the hormones produced by the testicle and the ovaries (gonad) are important regulators - any alteration in the endocrine system can cause serious disorder.
The author analyses the central importance of reproduction in different species and gives as an example in the parasitic crab, which in the case of the female is physically a sac full of eggs, In the case “Edriolydnus” the male is attached to the female’s shell and lacks a digestive intestine; he depends on her to survive and his only function is reproduction. In the case of insects, the egg is the most important thing. In many insect species, both male and female die after sexual intercourse. Female insects have a special role since they care and protect the eggs’ development. The author cites several insect species in which the male’s role is purely reproductive and, as a consequence, is killed after fulfilling his mission. De Beauvoir points out that in reality both female and male are, in different ways, destroyed by the process of reproduction. In the case of the female, life is longer but without independence, her life is focused completely on the protection and development of the egg. For this reason, males are physically evolved and the female presents physical deficiencies as a product of her role.
Two more important phases, or roles, in reproduction are: “maintenance of the specie and creation of new individuals” (p.19). These are distributed between the two sexes. However in some species, there is some independence between the parents and the egg. In the majority of fish, as well as in some frogs, copulation doesn’t exist. Fertilization is through stimulation, and in these cases, the eggs are left to develop by themselves.
Reproduction in mammals is more complicated. De Beauvoir explains that the division of these two roles, “maintenance and creation”, determines the role of the different sexes, female being the victim “under regulation of a sexual cycle”. The male’s roll is minor and consists in fertilization, and he recuperates his individuality almost instantly. The female is subordinated, first of all to menstruation, then to the “penetration and internal fertilization.” Here, the author writes that the female is “alienated - she becomes, in part, another than herself” (p.22). Then she carries the embryo for its development (the time depends of the species). After birth, the female needs to feed it; and then finally menopause arrives. For the female, in contrast to the male, her individuality is restricted in the name of the species.
The author describes the physical characteristics of the male and female. The males develop greater strength in relation to the female’s body. On the contrary, the female body, possesses all the processes and changes that the body goes through in different stages, for example the development of the breast, the processes of ovarian secretion and its endocrine manifestation involving different glands like pituitary, the thyroid, and the adrenals. “Woman, like men, is her body; but her body is something other than herself.” Menopause represents the end of the servitude established by her own biology. The female develops physical characteristics, which are determined by hormonal activity, such as less muscular strength, respiratory capacity, and the instability of metabolism. These characteristics have been a source of subordination. She writes, “Woman is of all mammalian females at once the one who is most profoundly alienated. . . the one who most violently resists this alienation; in no other is enslavement of the organism to reproduction more imperious or more unwillingly accepted”(p.32).
Biological characteristics are important in analyzing women’s condition, but these characteristics are not sufficient to define her destiny, she writes. She mentions several attempts, using “psycho physiological parallelism” to make a comparative analysis between male and female body to demonstrate male superiority, but she rejects these theories, and declares them absurd to analyze man and woman based on an “evolutionary hierarchy”(p.33).
De Beauvoir writes about Merleau-Ponty’s definition of the status of women as something in process - “. . . man is not a natural species: he is an historical idea. Woman is not a completed reality” (p.34). She agrees that women are half of the human species, and they haven’t developed all their capabilities; they are in the process of developing. Analyzing the body purely in term of biology is inherently limiting – if man wants to measure everything from a biological point of view, then the issues of actual human existence are ignored.
In conclusion, while nature is always “present”, social practice between humans can’t be based on biology. The practice of society reflects its other nature, thus the body is not only a biological organism, rather a body subject to taboos, laws and social values that define it.
