...one might be tempted to overlook the birthday of Simone de Beauvoir, but that wouldn't be wise. Who could ignore the feminist titan who taught women that they must, MUST be liberated from motherhood, which she considered "reproductive slavery." The concubine of Jean Paul Sarte was clearly prone to pursuing all sorts of risque things:
Beauvoir, whose 106th birthday is today celebrated with a Google Doodle, shared a troubled relationship with Sartre — the two simply couldn’t commit — though they were incredibly devoted to each other intellectually. Because they never married, Beauvoir was able to earn multiple degrees, write books, travel and take multiple lovers – male and female. In France in her thirties, Beauvoir stood accused of seducing female students, some of whom said she would attract them and then pass them on to Sartre.
I suppose the premise in this trite piece is that married women can't get degrees or be promiscuous. Since she and Sartre were intimate, it didn't signify whether or not they were married in terms of having children -- but it does explain their contempt for marriage and family (especially since they collaborated in debauching OTHER people's children).
As the article goes on to note, Beauvoir's thesis--“one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”--was foundational to academia's project of separating sex from gender (categories I consider contrived), which eventually trickled into the minds of the great unwashed until the family itself faced virtual annihilation. That's the ongoing deconstruction we're battling today.
The problem is two-fold: both the stereotypes we're prone to use, and our inability (for whatever reason) to discern our vocation from the human fibre we've been given. I suppose you could throw in bad mothering and bad fathering, but the family in general seemed to have survived that perennial scandal until this point. Of course, reproductive technology played its part and here we are: immersed in promiscuity, domestic violence, objectification of persons, and awash in anxiety.
Thanks, dear. I do hope you found God in the end -- even if it was in the last sliver allotted to you. God always loved you dearly and wanted your supreme happiness. May you rest in peace.
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