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#The Second Sex - A woman's Quarrel over her existence #BlogchatterA2Z #Feminism #Astitva

S stands for Second Sex .

By Second Sex , they mean  Women . Now the question is that why is SHE  addressed as the Second Sex ? Why is SHE considered at the second position ? Why is it always HE at the first position ? Is the woman still seen as a secondary thing , a subordinate to the male society ? Yes She is  , she is still trying to find her real existence ,  she bewails of her thwarted existence . She still feels angry when some factors stand in her way , blocking her path to her real independence , success and happiness .

A woman is still   juggling for total liberation 

Simone De Beauvoir , the French feminist and philosopher has written at length about a woman . She has made a detailed analysis of a woman’s oppressions , the unjust treatments or the mental pressures she has always been facing .

It’s true  that Women have progresed in many fields but this is also not false that there are still constraints on her . It’s true that women have won their freedom , they are bold , they are no more financially dependent but it’s also not false that she still is not completely freed of the patriarchal pressures .

For the  working women , their job or their work can’t be called as total freedom . They have to face the exploitation at workplace , along wih the universal fact that her job can’t free her from the household chores . She is the one who is supposed to take care of family’s needs , clean the house and ofcourse cook for the family , keeping the stomaches and hearts happy . Rather a working woman experiences double pressure – of job and  of household chores . Juggling her life , it becomes  difficult for a working woman to find the balance . Many times she sacrifices but those sacrifices are hardly noticed by the man of the family , leaving her psychologically tensed . The woman is ready to work hard . She finds happiness in her hard work , she finds satisfaction in juggling between home and job , she puts in best efforts  to take care of her family , but when her efforts are not appreciated or she is not loved back , then her fatigue is many times multiplied .

Sex

A woman is fretful of her thwarted existence

Thwart means that she is opposed , she is bound  to frustrate by the societal conditions  . Since childhood , she was told how to play with dolls or kitchen sets . She was told to wear bangles and also  that Pink was her favourite color .  She was given instructions on how to sit or stand . She was told about how to behave like a girl . She was taught to be quiet , shy , compromising in nature .  She was taught to bear the menstruation cramps without making any screams .  So since childhood only , she is seeing herself as an object , behaving the way the society wants . When she grows up , then the woman she has become misses the girl she was . In her childhood , how secure and independent she felt in the cozyness of her parents , how she felt like a butterfly spreading the colors of happiness in her friends’ circle . But what has happened now when she has grown up ? She has been shifted from her father’s warmth to marriage cage , where she is judged all the time . Her mind questions  “Who am I ?What did I want to become ?  What have I become ? Is this what I wanted ? Is this my destiny ? She  keeps thinking and thinking  whether her life has been  misspent , with the worries of the remaining life also  .

She wants to rise in her job but she is asked to compromise for her kids and family . She wants to smile and feel light  but the family pressures burden her . She needs a supportive shoulder but the husband is just not ready to give the required help . She just wants to be herself , but the society’s ill eyes see her body  through her  dress , she is made to listen the  abusive remarks, she is hurt physically and emotionally , she ( the second sex )  is used for the first sex’s  sexual pleasure .   She demands her real existence , her #Astitva . She is a woman , she is still  struggling  to secure her existence amidst the societal norms  or crimes .

When will  a woman’s existential quarrel end ?

 

 

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