English subtitles for clip: File:Ikusgela – Simone de Beauvoir.webm

1
00:00:05,375 --> 00:00:08,166
One is not born: but
becomes a woman.

2
00:00:08,191 --> 00:00:11,391
No biological, psychic
or economic destiny

3
00:00:11,392 --> 00:00:14,932
defines the image
of women in society:

4
00:00:14,933 --> 00:00:17,466
it is created by
all civilization.

5
00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:19,735
This thought is still current.

6
00:00:19,802 --> 00:00:22,268
Despite being from 1949.

7
00:00:22,280 --> 00:00:24,455
It was written by
Simone de Beauvoir,

8
00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:27,042
in a literary essay
called "The Second Sex".

9
00:00:27,619 --> 00:00:30,435
Philosopher, essayist, novelist,

10
00:00:30,460 --> 00:00:32,235
writer, journalist...

11
00:00:32,279 --> 00:00:34,202
Beauvoir was all of that.

12
00:00:34,203 --> 00:00:37,104
Today we know her mainly
because she developed

13
00:00:37,105 --> 00:00:41,187
some of the fundamental
ideas of contemporary feminism.

14
00:00:41,202 --> 00:00:43,202
But who was Beauvoir?

15
00:00:43,227 --> 00:00:44,892
What do we know about her life?

16
00:00:44,894 --> 00:00:47,480
She was born in 1908,

17
00:00:47,494 --> 00:00:48,494
in Paris,

18
00:00:48,499 --> 00:00:51,488
within a rich and
Catholic family.

19
00:00:51,489 --> 00:00:54,556
At the age of 15, she already
knew that she wanted to be a writer,

20
00:00:55,010 --> 00:00:58,135
and by then she
had lost her faith.

21
00:00:58,642 --> 00:01:02,602
She studied Philosophy at
the Sorbonne University, Paris.

22
00:01:02,903 --> 00:01:05,960
There she met several
intellectuals of the time,

23
00:01:05,961 --> 00:01:07,880
including Jean Paul Sartre:

24
00:01:07,881 --> 00:01:11,481
the thinker who would accompany
her for the rest of her life.

25
00:01:12,128 --> 00:01:16,918
In 1949 she published
the book "The Second Sex",

26
00:01:17,327 --> 00:01:20,591
and although she did not
consider herself a feminist yet,

27
00:01:20,592 --> 00:01:22,315
it became the basis
of the world struggle

28
00:01:22,316 --> 00:01:24,449
in favor of women.

29
00:01:25,224 --> 00:01:29,537
The Second World War had a
great impact on the life of the thinker.

30
00:01:29,538 --> 00:01:31,684
Beauvoir set aside
her apolitical stance

31
00:01:31,685 --> 00:01:34,761
and began her participation in
the political conflicts of the time,

32
00:01:34,786 --> 00:01:37,862
as we would say today.

33
00:01:37,876 --> 00:01:40,342
In the 1970s, for example,

34
00:01:40,636 --> 00:01:43,611
she created a movement in favor
of the decriminalization of abortion,

35
00:01:43,636 --> 00:01:45,216
called “Choisir”.

36
00:01:45,643 --> 00:01:48,576
"Choisir" means
"to chose" in French.

37
00:01:49,117 --> 00:01:52,129
She died in 1986;

38
00:01:52,130 --> 00:01:53,128
but she left

39
00:01:53,153 --> 00:01:56,082
in her novels,
essays and memoirs

40
00:01:56,269 --> 00:01:59,349
Reflections that continue to
have repercussions up to date.

41
00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:01,522
The intellectual
current embodying

42
00:02:01,547 --> 00:02:03,725
Simone de Beauvoir's
thought is existentialism.

43
00:02:05,629 --> 00:02:07,188
Or to be exact,

44
00:02:07,189 --> 00:02:09,001
atheistic existentialism,

45
00:02:09,002 --> 00:02:11,002
which has no
theological foundation.

46
00:02:11,308 --> 00:02:12,641
According to this
line of thought,

47
00:02:12,655 --> 00:02:14,775
the human being
is not predetermined

48
00:02:14,789 --> 00:02:17,789
by any philosophical
or moral doctrine.

49
00:02:18,379 --> 00:02:21,242
Life and the world have
no intrinsic meaning,

50
00:02:21,256 --> 00:02:23,761
but each one can give their own.

51
00:02:23,762 --> 00:02:26,014
Furthermore, you have
to give it a meaning,

52
00:02:26,015 --> 00:02:28,281
if you want to live
an authentic life.

53
00:02:28,793 --> 00:02:31,392
The human being
is free, and therefore,

54
00:02:31,393 --> 00:02:33,974
you are doomed to
constantly make choices.

55
00:02:33,975 --> 00:02:37,674
And, consequently, you are also
responsible for your own decisions.

56
00:02:37,675 --> 00:02:40,154
You decide what kind
of person you want to be,

57
00:02:40,155 --> 00:02:42,249
and what kind of
society you want to build,

58
00:02:42,250 --> 00:02:44,982
through your
choices and actions.

59
00:02:45,402 --> 00:02:47,428
No more looking for
excuses in tradition,

60
00:02:47,439 --> 00:02:49,866
in biology or whatever!

61
00:02:50,420 --> 00:02:52,739
Therefore, Simone
de Beauvoir drank

62
00:02:52,790 --> 00:02:54,257
from existentialism.

63
00:02:54,550 --> 00:02:56,936
Here experiences
were very present

64
00:02:56,937 --> 00:03:00,013
in the development of
her thought, and for this,

65
00:03:00,038 --> 00:03:03,575
she merged philosophical,
scientific thought and literary gift.

66
00:03:04,295 --> 00:03:06,629
Her contributions can be
summarized in five main ideas:

67
00:03:07,716 --> 00:03:10,395
1- In order to be free, you
need to want it and act for it.

68
00:03:10,553 --> 00:03:12,985
According to Simone de
Beauvoir, freedom is always

69
00:03:12,986 --> 00:03:14,519
located and established:

70
00:03:14,921 --> 00:03:17,721
it occurs in each individual,

71
00:03:17,747 --> 00:03:20,347
conditioned by a given context.

72
00:03:20,460 --> 00:03:22,373
So people don't have

73
00:03:22,387 --> 00:03:25,580
the same opportunities
to develop their freedom

74
00:03:25,605 --> 00:03:28,173
and carry out their
own life projects.

75
00:03:28,214 --> 00:03:30,250
For example, the
slave does not have

76
00:03:30,285 --> 00:03:32,085
the same opportunities
as the lord,

77
00:03:32,138 --> 00:03:34,805
and the woman does not
have those of the man either.

78
00:03:35,415 --> 00:03:36,482
Against this,

79
00:03:36,508 --> 00:03:39,733
human beings have to
build, expand and fight for

80
00:03:39,746 --> 00:03:42,147
their and others
freedom at all times.

81
00:03:42,159 --> 00:03:43,559
In Beauvoir's words,

82
00:03:43,639 --> 00:03:48,014
to reject freedom is to
renounce to humanity.

83
00:03:48,900 --> 00:03:51,779
2- Humanity is ambiguous.

84
00:03:51,952 --> 00:03:54,757
Contradiction is essential
to the human being.

85
00:03:55,205 --> 00:03:57,871
It is the animal that does
not want to be an animal.

86
00:03:58,312 --> 00:04:00,748
The human lives in the present,

87
00:04:00,749 --> 00:04:03,416
as between the
past and the future.

88
00:04:03,822 --> 00:04:06,381
It is an individual, but
also, part of a collective,

89
00:04:06,382 --> 00:04:09,048
since the human is formed
through relationships with the others.

90
00:04:09,616 --> 00:04:13,770
Beauvoir declares and
thinks about these duplicities,

91
00:04:13,771 --> 00:04:16,920
and seeks to bring up and gather

92
00:04:16,921 --> 00:04:19,534
the typical binary ideas
within European thought.

93
00:04:19,654 --> 00:04:21,095
Life and death,

94
00:04:21,096 --> 00:04:22,804
the body and the mind,

95
00:04:22,817 --> 00:04:24,324
nature and culture,

96
00:04:24,376 --> 00:04:25,643
the man and the woman.

97
00:04:26,215 --> 00:04:29,003
Beauvoir paved the
way to review and rethink

98
00:04:29,030 --> 00:04:31,830
those binary schemes.

99
00:04:33,595 --> 00:04:35,395
3- The woman is built.

100
00:04:36,221 --> 00:04:39,375
She discarded the
attempts to predefine

101
00:04:39,376 --> 00:04:41,909
the human being,
the man or the woman:

102
00:04:42,149 --> 00:04:45,816
be it from economics, be it from
psychology, be it from biology.

103
00:04:46,189 --> 00:04:50,828
Life, and therefore concepts,
are given meaning by acting,

104
00:04:50,882 --> 00:04:53,936
according to one's own
specific or social frameworks.

105
00:04:54,163 --> 00:04:56,096
The meaning comes
from outside, and inside.

106
00:04:56,533 --> 00:04:58,999
There is no natural,
intrinsic essence.

107
00:04:59,359 --> 00:05:02,359
There is no oppression
or natural privilege.

108
00:05:02,756 --> 00:05:06,756
And therefore, as those
power structures and positions

109
00:05:06,781 --> 00:05:10,290
are cultural, they are variable.

110
00:05:10,291 --> 00:05:12,701
You are not born
Jewish, black, Basque,

111
00:05:12,702 --> 00:05:14,835
you come to be.

112
00:05:15,394 --> 00:05:19,589
The process is done by society,
the context and one's own decisions.

113
00:05:19,590 --> 00:05:21,190
So happens with the woman.

114
00:05:22,376 --> 00:05:25,710
4- The philosophy of otherness.

115
00:05:25,727 --> 00:05:29,174
Beauvoir uses the
category of "otherness"

116
00:05:29,212 --> 00:05:32,545
to explain the role of women
in this masculine world.

117
00:05:33,223 --> 00:05:36,823
Oneself is not enough
to develop a free project.

118
00:05:36,835 --> 00:05:40,702
Human beings develop ourselves
through relationships with others.

119
00:05:41,417 --> 00:05:45,950
The relationship between oneself
and the other can be of two types.

120
00:05:46,023 --> 00:05:47,857
If the relationship
develops wide open,

121
00:05:47,898 --> 00:05:50,057
respect will be bidirectional,

122
00:05:50,111 --> 00:05:51,844
and it will enrich both.

123
00:05:52,280 --> 00:05:54,346
If, on the contrary,
comes from the otherness,

124
00:05:54,347 --> 00:05:58,280
like that of the owner and the
slave, there will be no respect.

125
00:05:58,882 --> 00:06:02,682
The Other will always be defined
in the relationship towards the One,

126
00:06:02,684 --> 00:06:06,484
and the Other will know the world
and themself through the One's eyes.

127
00:06:06,751 --> 00:06:09,698
The owner will be
the "who", the subject;

128
00:06:09,699 --> 00:06:12,859
the slave, on the other
hand, the "other", the object.

129
00:06:13,353 --> 00:06:15,391
In Beauvoir's words,

130
00:06:15,392 --> 00:06:17,112
that's what happens with women.

131
00:06:17,272 --> 00:06:21,304
The man is the subject, the
woman, instead, the otherness.

132
00:06:21,664 --> 00:06:25,864
We can find an example of
this in today's sports news.

133
00:06:25,910 --> 00:06:28,136
Men's sport is sport.

134
00:06:28,137 --> 00:06:30,002
Women's sport,
on the other hand,

135
00:06:30,003 --> 00:06:34,128
a lower category, the
otherness, women's sport.

136
00:06:35,259 --> 00:06:41,249
5- Diversity of thought:
differences in equality.

137
00:06:41,521 --> 00:06:43,321
Regarding diversity,

138
00:06:43,574 --> 00:06:46,307
Beauvoir
counterpointed two ideas:

139
00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,627
on the one hand, the
oppressive and imperialist logic:

140
00:06:49,813 --> 00:06:52,106
“equality in difference”.

141
00:06:52,718 --> 00:06:54,385
Some kind of theoretical
equality is given

142
00:06:54,411 --> 00:06:57,678
to those who are different,

143
00:06:57,930 --> 00:07:02,263
but as far as the actual conditions
are concerned, they are relegated.

144
00:07:03,047 --> 00:07:07,014
On the other hand, the thinker
claims the inversion of the phrase,

145
00:07:07,081 --> 00:07:09,948
becoming "difference
in equality".

146
00:07:10,420 --> 00:07:12,472
Starting from that idea,

147
00:07:12,473 --> 00:07:14,406
countering the differences,

148
00:07:14,449 --> 00:07:16,789
she developed a
thought-line that would take

149
00:07:16,813 --> 00:07:20,216
them into account as
equals, from the very root.

150
00:07:20,217 --> 00:07:22,624
In essence, that could be the
basis for current understanding

151
00:07:22,625 --> 00:07:25,038
of various
domination-relationships

152
00:07:25,105 --> 00:07:28,972
and the intersectional struggle.

153
00:07:29,430 --> 00:07:32,296
We still use those concepts

154
00:07:32,326 --> 00:07:35,393
to understand and
analyze the current world.

155
00:07:35,394 --> 00:07:37,660
That is the reason why
Simone de Beauvoir

156
00:07:37,703 --> 00:07:40,835
is among the most significant
thinkers of the 20th century.

157
00:07:41,133 --> 00:07:44,866
And also for her ability
to look to the future:

158
00:07:45,641 --> 00:07:48,548
"new carnal and affective relations
of which we cannot conceive

159
00:07:48,549 --> 00:07:53,498
will be born between the sexes."

160
00:07:53,803 --> 00:07:56,594
70 years later,

161
00:07:56,595 --> 00:07:58,462
Could we say that she was right?

162
00:07:58,999 --> 00:08:03,495
Or do we still need to develop
relationships that we cannot imagine?