to pose such a radical argument . In the beginning to the second volume of The Second Sex , De Beauvoir argues that :
“ no biological , psychological or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society ; it is civilisation as a whole that produces this creature … which is described as feminine ” ( De Beauvoir , 1949 : 295 )
For De Beauvoir , it is one thing to be “ biologically female ” and “ quite another to be shaped by one ’ s culture into a woman ”.( Spelman , 1990 : 66 ) What she has to do then , in order to become a “ woman ”, is to be seen and to see herself as “ Other in contrast to the Self of the male ” ( Spelman , 1990 : 67 ). In order to understand where this concept of the “ Other ” comes from , it is worth comparing Simone de Beauvoir to Sartre . For Sartre , “ being-for-itself ” is always wholly autonomous . Man is an “ absolute subject ” and is able to freely constitute the meaning of his own situation through his transcendence ( Kruks , 1992 : 96 ). Social relations are constituted by the fact that each “ being-for-itself ” establishes itself as a subject , “ precisely by defining other beings as objects ” ( Tong , 1989 : 197 ). As De Beauvoir argues , “ no group ever sets itself up as the One without at once setting up the Other ” ( De Beauvoir , 1949 : 17 ). De Beauvoir thus argues that women
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have been forced into the realm of Otherness : “ humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him ” ( De Beauvoir , 1949 : 16 ).
In contrast to Sartre , De Beauvoir replaces the “ absolute subject ” for the “ situated subject ; a subject that is intrinsically intersubjective and embodied ” ( Kruks , 1992 : 98 ). It is not “ impersonal universal man who is the source of values , but the plurality of concrete particular men projecting themselves towards their ends ” ( De Beauvoir , 1947 : 17 ). So while Sartre would hold that you are responsible for yourself no matter how oppressed you are , Beauvoir recognises that accusations of bad faith towards women of the hareem are misplaced . The bad faith lies instead with those advancing the oppression . De Beauvoir is able to argue this because she puts forward the idea of “ moral freedom ”.
Moral freedom for De Beauvoir is a response to our ontological freedom . We gain access to moral freedom through the process of transcending our facticity . In order to do this however , we need to ensure the freedom of others . This is the case because meaning in the world is only disclosed through other conscious subjects . As Elain Blum argues , “ what gives meaning to the body as male or female is