In The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, written in 1949, de Beauvoir starts off his chapter ‘The Data of Biology’ by defining the word woman. She defines woman as “…a womb, an ovary; she is a female…” Speaking from a man’s perspective, the words of a man the epithet female, the word ‘female’ is actually an insult. De Beauvoir’s argument is that men fundamentally oppress women by characterizing them on every level whether it be wife, mother, or entertainer.
The author points out that the existence of two gametes- like the sperm and the egg, do not 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. De Beauvoir states the importance of both systems, male and female, to fulfill the survival concerns of the different species. De Beauvoir uses Hegel’s definition of woman as “an incidental being, suggesting with this the incidental nature of sexuality” 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 between both sexes. Then de Beauvoir analyzes Hegel’s discourse once more, 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.
As de Beauvoir is analyzing the XX and XY she comes to think of two questions: “What does the female denote in the animal kingdom?” and “what particular kind of female is manifest in woman?” She states that the division of a species in two sexes, with the objective of reproduction, is not completely clear, and points out that in nature many other animals use different systems of reproduction, such as multiplication as a way to reproduce. Meaning that the female does not indeed need a male to fertilization. There are two gametes; the sperm and the egg. Both gametes are important to either sex because that is how they will be able to reproduce. In my opinion, the definition of a male and a female are on the gametes of each individuals that they produce. From there the gametes develop from equivalent cells and develop into sperm or ovules and each contain a similar amount of chromosomes.
What about transgender?
According to the article on, ‘End Transhate’, the argument stated is: “….His/her chromosomes are XY/XX so he/she not a woman/man.”
Wrong!
Just because a human being has both XX and XY does not mean they are not either a woman or man. They can identify as one or the other. What else would they be if they were neither. They have to identify either a woman or a man. Physical gender does not have any connection with mental gender, as in what they consider or identify to be.
This can still get people confused on the difference between sex and gender but it should not.
Sex refers to sexual composition and obviously the chromosomes that are known in our bodies all thanks to biology.
Gender refers to our own feelings and what we as a person identify as whether it be female or male…even gender neutral.
Yes, biological characteristics are important in analyzing women’s condition, but these characteristics are not sufficient to define everyone’s own destiny. De Beauvoir makes 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”.
In addition, 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” 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.
