The Second Sex, The New Dress and The Introduction

Simone de Beauvoir author of The Second Sex explained in this excerpt that the characteristics and roles of women that are seen today are decisions made by society. “If the definition provided for this concept is contradicted by the behavior of flesh and blood women, it is the latter who are wrong: we are told not that Femininity is a false entity, but that the women concerned are not feminine.” She calls the ideas of feminism "myths." She says that "few myths have been more advantageous to the ruling caste than the myth of woman: it justifies all privileges and even authorizes their abuse." By saying this author is implying that the myths justify the action placed on women be cause the women should do what they are supposed or intended to do. The women can be used and abused.In the Woolf readings the main character of each short story is really self-conscious. For example in "The New Dress," Mabel is feeling so self-conscious because, she chose to dress that she liked, rather than what was the current fashion at the time. "She felt like a dressmaker's dummy standing there, for young people to stick pins into." Yet, she is also aware of how silly it is to be so worried of the though and opinions of others. This shows how the societal views of women have spread to women’s fashion. In this story women were “required” to look a certain way and because she didn’t she was persecuted. In the other reading, The Introduction, Lily is attending a party for her first time and is almost hiding in the corner because she is nervous and intimidated by others in fear of their perception of her. She describes her anguish at the thought of being introduced to a circle of others as "being flung into a whirlpool where either she would perish or be saved.” This line shows how a woman self-conscious depends on what was grounded into her about a women’s role as a child.