“Woman is defined in relation to man, not man in relation to woman. Woman is the Other, and as the Other, she is the object while man is the subject. This asymmetry is the root of women's oppression.”
Building on Hegel's master-slave dialectic, Beauvoir argues that patriarchal society treats women as 'the Other'—the negative, mysterious, dangerous counterpart to the rational subject (man). Woman becomes the object of man's gaze, desire, and definition.
This othering is structural and profound: it appears in myth, religion, literature, law, and everyday interaction. Women are not recognized as autonomous subjects with their own projects and freedoms, but as complements to man or as embodied sex (as opposed to transcendent consciousness).
Commentary
Building on Hegel's master-slave dialectic, Beauvoir argues that patriarchal society treats women as 'the Other'—the negative, mysterious, dangerous counterpart to the rational subject (man). Woman becomes the object of man's gaze, desire, and definition.
This othering is structural and profound: it appears in myth, religion, literature, law, and everyday interaction. Women are not recognized as autonomous subjects with their own projects and freedoms, but as complements to man or as embodied sex (as opposed to transcendent consciousness).