What role do women play in the perpetuation of patriarchy? On the one hand, popular media urges women to be independent, outspoken, and career-minded. Yet, this same media glorifies a specific, sometimes voluntary, female submissiveness as a source of satisfaction. In philosophy, even less has been said on why women submit to men and the discussion has been equally contradictory鈥攕ubmission has traditionally been considered a vice or pathology, but female submission has been valorized as innate to women鈥檚 nature. Is there a way to explore female submission in all of its complexity鈥攏ot denying its appeal in certain instances, and not buying into an antifeminist, sexist, or misogynistic perspective?
We Are Not Born Submissive offers the first in-depth philosophical exploration of female submission, focusing on the thinking of Simone de Beauvoir, and more recent work in feminist philosophy, epistemology, and political theory. Manon Garcia argues that to comprehend female submission, we must invert how we examine power and see it from the woman鈥檚 point of view. Historically, philosophers, psychoanalysts, and even some radical feminists have conflated femininity and submission. Garcia demonstrates that only through the lens of women鈥檚 lived experiences鈥攖heir economic, social, and political situations鈥攁nd how women adapt their preferences to maintain their own well-being, can we understand the ways in which gender hierarchies in society shape women鈥檚 experiences. Ultimately, she asserts that women do not actively choose submission. Rather, they consent to鈥攁nd sometimes take pleasure in鈥攚hat is prescribed to them through social norms within a patriarchy.
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Manon Garcia is an assistant professor of philosophy at Yale University. Twitter @ManonGarciaFR