“One Is Not Born, but Rather Becomes, a Woman”

Who is Simone de Beauvoir?

Where does our country stand in the feminist struggle?

A woman's right to be an individual, the definition of her place in society, her inclusion in the governance of the country, her ability to exist in the public sphere, and her equal participation in positions managing the means of production... These remain among the most discussed topics even in the world's developed countries. The necessity of constantly discussing these issues and keeping regulations up to date is known to everyone. However, we are still a long way from having serious discussions about these topics in our country. Because there are still question marks in people's minds regarding the protection of a woman's right to life. In our news programs, we still hear about young girls being sacrificed to pedophile monsters in marriage ceremonies at very young ages. It does not occur to anyone to file a public lawsuit against the ignorant people who defend the idea of every man marrying more than one woman on YouTube channels, simply because they are committing a constitutional crime.

A large segment of society, which thinks that the only duty of a woman—who is ignored by being confined to a narrow framework—is to get married, give birth to children, and serve her husband and children until she dies, believes that these thoughts are part of the normal course of life. The only way to influence and change this group of men, who expect their wives, mothers, or sisters at home to act like servants, is through radical changes in basic education, parallel to state policy.

In our country, these issues cannot even be discussed on open platforms, because in order to talk about the place of women, young girls, and young women in society and their individualization, it is first necessary to prevent them from being raped, murdered, and sold as child brides. The only way to do this is to create a feminist philosophy and school of thought in the country. We need to look at the histories of countries that have been able to struggle with this situation, examine their intellectuals, and create a new system of thought for ourselves that is compatible with us. In this respect, Simone de Beauvoir is one of the most important authors who should be included in the school curriculum.

SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR, YOUTH AND SCHOOL YEARS

Although the situation in France at the time Simone de Beauvoir was born was not as bad as it is in today's Turkey, the problems women faced were not very different. Simone was born in 1908 in Paris, as the daughter of a wealthy bourgeois family, that is, about 116 years ago from today.

Her father, who studied law, was an agnostic like many educated men of that period, while her mother was a very disciplined Catholic with strict rules, and of course, she provided her daughter's education in this direction. Simone was sent to a Catholic girls' school. Growing up between a disciplined Catholic mother and an agnostic father gave Simone the opportunity to get to know both worlds of thought closely.

Her family planned Simone's future as follows: She should receive a good education and dedicate the rest of her life to her children and husband. However, the plans Simone made for her own life would not only affect her own life but would also deeply influence and change the lives of millions of women around the world.

For her family's plan to come true, Simone needed to come from a wealthy family. However, after losing most of their wealth after the First World War, it became impossible for them to provide a dowry for their daughter. Realizing the situation, her father, aware that his daughter needed to study and earn her own living, sent Simone to the Sorbonne University. Rejecting the religious education her family wanted to give her, Simone became increasingly alienated from her family with her socialist and atheist ideals.

In 1929, at the age of 21, Simone became the youngest person to receive an Agrégation in philosophy at the Sorbonne University. This is a status that allows for high-level teaching in high school-level institutions. It was during this period that de Beauvoir, who graduated as the second-best student of the year, right behind Jean-Paul Sartre, met and fell in love with him. Their 51-year partnership was like a complete reflection of the freedom they granted each other, their perspectives on life, and the truths they defended; their relationship ended with Sartre's death in 1980.

SIMONE WAS A VERY ANGRY WRITER

Following the 2015 publication of the book The Second Sex, British journalist and author Natalie Haynes said, 'There were a lot of people who didn't like Simone,' she says, 'Because Simone was very angry.' This anger, of course, could not be seen as a virtue by those who criticized Simone, because according to them, anger was a trait that did not suit a lady at all. However, anger is a very powerful emotion; how could it be possible to fight against injustice without feeling a real anger towards that injustice?

"Simone de Beauvoir began to be more politically active in later years. The atrocities of the Second World War made her struggle for individual and personal freedom more concrete—enabling her ideas to expand towards larger socio-political and philosophical questions. In 1945, together with Sartre and philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, she founded the literary-political magazine Les Temps Modernes (Modern Times), which advocated Marxist and existentialist views while also embracing atheism. In her early political essays, we see that Beauvoir was interested in existentialism. Her essay titled Pyrrhus et Cinéas was published at the same time as the writings of Sartre, which are now accepted as the foundation of this movement.

As a result of her multifaceted political and philosophical work, the world met the very famous work written by Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex (Le Deuxième Sexe). The book, written in 1949 and consisting of 1,000 pages, was published in two volumes. The book, written about the position and role of women in society, is accepted as a turning point in feminist theory and philosophy.

WOMAN DEFINED BY MAN

The sentence in the book, 'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman,' reflects the idea that gender is imposed on women as a role by social ideals and beliefs as its main theme. According to de Beauvoir, the problem is that woman has already been defined by man.

In short, while man is accepted as the dominant subject who defines the world, woman exists as the 'Other' and takes her place below man in the hierarchy. 'While man is defined as a human being, woman is defined only as a woman,' writes de Beauvoir.

De Beauvoir, who was a defender of individual freedom and existentialist philosophy throughout her life, insistently emphasizes that the only way for women to get rid of social restrictions is a process of liberation. She criticizes with very harsh language how women are kept away from education and public life, and the discrimination and inequality they are subjected to in society. Although her criticism was perceived as a scandal by patriarchal society and she was subjected to pressure, women in France and even in many parts of the world know very well what the books Simone wrote with determination changed in their lives.

Following the success she achieved with the book 'The Second Sex', de Beauvoir focused on her memoirs and other literary essays throughout the 50s and 60s. She also continued her struggle for concrete feminist issues for years, the most important of which was the fight she waged for liberal abortion laws.

In the 70s, Simone once again attracted the attention of a wide public with the manifesto she published. In the Manifesto of the 343 (Le Manifeste des 343), 343 women openly stated that they had abortions, forcibly taking back their most natural rights over their own bodies from the male world. Simone became the symbol of this action. Finally, in 1975, abortion was legalized in France. When Simone de Beauvoir passed away in Paris at the age of 78, her life and books had not yet reached the greatest fame they would eventually attain.

Simone de Beauvoir's two-volume book The Second Sex is a book that should be read especially by boys, because the subject of feminist philosophy is more about the definition of woman in the minds of men than it is about women. Although the individual efforts of women, who are forced to live within a narrow mold defined and imposed by men, are undoubtedly necessary to get rid of this situation, the real issue is about changing the definition of woman in the minds of men who are husbands, sons, and fathers.