Tapia 1

Brandon Tapia

Professor Ozman

Final

5/6/22

Intro

Simone De Beauvoir: Simone De Beauvoir is known as a socialist feminist who has

many ideas on what the world considers to be feminine. In her famous work The Second Sex she

tries to answer the question of “What is a woman?” Within this reading, she tries her best to

answer this question, and the answer she comes up with is not a definitive one. There are so

many different opinions of what people in our society consider a woman or consider

feminen.The gender roles that an american society has in place for a woman are too vague and

subjective to put a real definition on it. What we do understand is that as a society we look at

men as these primal individuals who were bred to be hunter’s and gatherers. In the modern era

this would translate as the head of the household or the “Breadwinner”. The problem begins

when you start to see society changing and more women are becoming the more successful

members of their household. However, people still view women as these dainty little girlies that

have a set role in society. So even when women do change their roles in society they are still

looked down upon by stubborn men who are unable to change their views. Also, when that

success occurs for women a man looks at them as less feminene which creates another problem

in trying to define femininity. Most believe that it only has to do with the laws of science and

what sex you were born into. However, it is much more than that and so if a woman cannot be

defined by her role in society or her sex then how do you define her? The point De Beauviour

makes next is that this constant battle that women have to face against society makes it very hard
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for them to find the balance of happiness because no matter what they do they cannot please

everybody. What the answer should be is that there is no set definition of what a woman is

because a woman can be whoever she wants and can choose to act how he wants. She does not

have to conform to any societal standards if she does not want to.

bell hooks: bell hooks in her work known as Intro to Feminist Theory From Margin to

Center she discusses a perspective on feminist theory that is brutally honest with those who she

believes are privileged in the conversation. She begins her writing with a powerful quote that

reads, “Much feminist theory emerges from privilege women who live at the center whose

perspectives on reality rarely include knowledge and awareness of the lives of women and men

who live in the margin.”(hooks 2) When hooks talks about the margin and the center she is

discussing the spot where different feminist theory is viewed. Feminism from a white feminist is

viewed very differently than feminism from a woman that is African-American. Although all

women have been highly discriminated against throughout history there is a lot more struggle for

a woman who is a minority. For a white feminist the only problem they gave is the fact that they

are a woman and although that can be a great struggle they still have an advantage over other

woman with darker skin. The first advantage is just simply the fact that their skin is fair and so

throughout history many people would feel more inclined to listen to their ideas and that is why

they are the center of feminist theory. For someone who is a black woman you are in the

margians because although you may share similar great ideas with white feminist, people will

refuse to listen because you are black. As a black person in America throughout history there

were laws placed against you so that the country could see you fail. It is hard enough being a

woman trying to grow up in a sexist society. It is also very hard just being a black person trying
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to grow up in a racist society. So the hardest challenge there is, is trying to be taken seriously

when you are a black woman. So the struggle is trying to be a feminist black woman is much

more difficult then when you’re a white feminist woman. hooks also tries to emphasize the fact

that most white feminist have no idea what it is like to be discriminated against that harshly.

Therefore, they have no ability to speak on the struggles of black women because someone

looking from the outside in could never understand.

Cherríe Moraga: Moraga brings in a whole new perspective on feminism and what it

means to her as a Hispanic lesbian woman. In La Guera she discusses the upbringing of her

underprivileged mother who was the only child of 6 to marry an anglo. Moraga explains stories

that her mother would tell her about how she had to be pulled out of school to help make money

for family by working with her brothers and sisters in fields. Her mother explained that whatever

money she would make would end up being wasted on alcohol by her father. Her mother had

explained to Moraga that she was very lucky to be born the way she is. Moraga was known in

her culture as La Guera which translates to “fair skinned”. At first Moraga did not understand

why it was so important to her mother and the rest of her Chicano family that she was born this

way. As she progressed through her schooling she realized that the advantage of her being that at

was because nobody knew she was Hispanic. Her being that fair skinned made everyone she met

think she was white and in order to help her put on this persona her mother taught her to act as an

American. Her mother knew that as Moraga would progress through life it would be much easier

for her if everyone thought she was a white American and nothing more. During this time

Hispanic people were looked at as being only good for labor work. Although Moraga was still a

woman she could be respected by most of her peers and acquire great job opportunities.
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However, hee luck ran out when she admitted to the people around her that she was a lesbian.

Her being a lesbian made people feel very uncomfortable and was looked at as very taboo. She

would eventually find out why it was so important to not let people know why she was different

from anyone else. She was heavily discriminated against once word spread that she was a lesbian

and life would become much more difficult for her moving forward. Moraga brings us a unique

perspective on the life of a woman who had advantages that were eventually taken away.
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Script

*Scene opens in the living room of De Beauvoir, hooks, and Moragas apartment.

hooks: What’s up Simone!

De Beauvoir: Hey what’s up hooks! How’s it going?

hooks: I’m doing well. I just got home from a protest I was hosting.

De Beauvoir: Nice! What was the protest for?

hooks: we were protesting against A local school for not firing a teacher after he claimed

transgender women were “disgusting”.

De Beauvoir: Oh my goodness how awful!

hooks: yea it was a pretty rough story to hear about, but I think we got our message across

because the school board had called for a trial to decide if he should continue being allowed to

teach.

De Beauvoir: Well I’m very proud of you hooks. Nice job!

hooks: Thank you very much.

hooks: what are you watching?

De Beauvoir: I’m watching this movie called Blackkklansman. It’s directed by Spike Lee.

hooks: Oh I love Spike Lee films. I am a huge fan of Do The Right Thing.

De Beauvoir: Yeah me too. When I saw this pop up on my Netflix watch list I just knew I had to

watch it.

hooks: What is it about?

De Beauvoir: It’s based on the true story of the first African American cop to be hired at the

Colorado Springs police department. The man's name is Ron Stallworth and he works in the

undercover unit posing as a white guy over the phone.

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hooks: Why would he do that?

De Beauvoir: He is trying to infiltrate the KKK so he can see if they are planning any violent

attacks against the local African American community.

hooks: Sounds like a very interesting movie.

De Beauvoir: Come watch it with me. I just started it!

hooks: I’ll make some popcorn!

*Both De Beauvoir and hooks watch the movie until it is over.

hooks: Wow that was a really great movie. I feel like that was such a brave film for Spike Lee to

make. Going right at that weird orange guy with the bad hair.

De Beauvoir: I know right! That was a fantastic film and yea I’m not really sure what he was

going for with that comb over look.

hooks: Ahahaha

De Beauvoir: Although the movie was mainly about Ron Stallworth's journey, I can’t seem to get

that One character out of my head.

hooks: which one?

De Beauvoir: Connie Kendrickson. She was the wife of that creepy dude from the KKK.

hooks: Oh. The one that tried to blow up the women from the black student union?

De Beauvoir: Yeah that one!

hooks: why can’t you seem to get her out of your head?

De Beauvoir: Well something about her character really makes me feel some compassion for her.

hooks: Care to explain?

De Beauvoir: I shall.

hooks: I’m all ears.

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De Beauvoir: She did do some very bad things in the film and even tried to kill some characters

that very well did not deserve it. However, I feel as though she does this because she is just

trying to be taken more seriously.

hooks: What do you mean?

De Beauvoir: Well as a woman in that era she is subjected to do the task that men allow her to

do. Society sees her as only useful for whatever her husband requires of her. Like in the scene

where they have their first KKK meeting in her house.

hooks: Tell me what you saw in that scene.

De Beauvoir: It was the moment when she stands up in front of all the men in the room and

declares, “This college n***** girl from the baboon student union was attacking our police. I

mean this girl is dangerous, she is like that commy Angela Davidson. I think that we should shut

her mouth!”(Lee 40:08) Now I understand what she said was a horrible thing but I think it has a

deeper meaning.

hooks: I really need you to elaborate on that.

De Beauvoir: Well when you think about what a woman was in that era, most people would not

say that a woman is someone who can be useful for completing important tasks. They sure

wouldn’t say that a woman is someone who can come up with useful ideas.

hooks: okay…

De Beauvoir: I mean following that line hee husband responds by saying, “uh that’s great honey,

but how about you go to the kitchen and grab some more beers for the fellas?”( Lee 41:25) Thay

shows me that her husband only thinks of her as good for being a person to do whatever he asks

of her. He does not care about anything she has to say only because she is a woman.

hooks: Why does that justify her horrid actions?

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De Beauvoir: It doesn’t justify anything. I just think that as a woman she is trying to show that

she can be more useful then what the men think she can be. She is trying to show that a woman is

more than just a beer fetcher. Obviously she does it in a pretty horrible way, but I think it is only

because society has made her desperate by treating her like a doormat her whole life.

hooks: I see your point, however I think you are missing one crucial thing.

De Beauvoir: And that is?

hooks: SHE’S WHITE!!!

De Beauvoir: Oh…

hooks: Yea she may be oppressed because of the fact that she is a woman, but if the worst thing

she has to worry about is the way her husband treats her then I say she has it pretty easy.

De Beauvoir: You think that’s easy?

hooks: Yes. Look at the black women in the movie and all they have to go through within the

film. Like Patrice who is the president of the Black Student Union. She has to work her ass off to

rally the young African American students to stand up against to discrimination they fave in their

everyday lives.

De Beauvoir: Where do you see that?

hooks: within the first 25 minutes of the movie there is a Scene where she and three fellow

members of the BSU get pulled over by white cops. When they get pulled over the white cops

Harris them, and even sexually assault them by putting their hands on them Inappropriately.

De Beauvoir: Go on.

hooks: The officer even said himself that he can do those things with no repercussions because at

the end of the day they could shoot all of the people in the car, make up a lie about what
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happened and not get in any trouble for it. That shows you that although Connie did face some

discrimination, hee and other white women have no idea how hard it is to be a black woman.

De Beauvoir: So you’re saying that white women don’t have to face struggles.

hooks: I’m just saying that I don’t consider having to grab beers for your husband that great of a

struggle.

De Beauvoir: So do you think I haven’t struggled in my lifetime?

hooks: if you really want to know what I think. I think you don’t know Jack about struggle

because you’re white.

De Beauvoir: How dare you! I have been through a lot to get where I am!

hooks: Don’t raise your tone with me!

De Beauvoir: I’ll take any time that I want!

*Both de Beauvoir and hooks stand up seemingly about to throw blows. Cherríe Moraga enters

the apartment and drops her keys at the sight of her two roommates facing off.

Moraga: WOAH WOAH WOAH! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU TWO DOING?!

De Beauvoir: I was just trying to make a point about a character from Blackkklansman and hooks

here tries telling me that because I’m white I have never faced any struggle as a woman.

hooks: I was just trying to give my piece on the matter and you got all sensitive!

Moraga: Okay let’s all just calm down. Why don’t you guys tell me about what happened?

*hooks and De Beauvoir priced to explain the discussion they had about the movie.

Moraga: Well first of all, I love the movie Blackkklansman. Second, I think both of you make

some very great points about those scenes and the characters.

De Beauvoir: See! I told you!

hooks: You better watch it!

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Moraga: Stop it! Look how about I explain what I think to the both of you so that maybe we can

find some common ground here.

hooks: fine

De Beauvoir: Seems fair

Moraga: Listen Simone. When I was growing up my mother and family used to say that I was La

Guera.

De Beauvoir: What Does that mean?

Moraga: it means “fair skinned”.

De Beauvoir: I see

Moraga: My Chicano family used to tell me how lucky I was to be that way and how happy they

were that I was. At first I didn’t really understand why it was such an important thing to them.

As I grew older and went through the school system I realized that the importance of having fair

skin was that no one knew I was a minority.

De Beauvoir: Go on

Moraga: You see. I had a lot of advantages that my mother never had because she was looked at

by white people as nothing more than someone they could use for labor work and she was never

given the chance to go to school. Me passing as a white person gave me a great opportunity to do

so many things with my life that my mother along with my family never got to do.

De Beauvoir: Dang…

Moraga: Although Connie is a woman and did have to face discrimination because of it, she still

has an advantage over anyone who is a minority simply because she is white. So to hooks point it

can be said that she doesn’t understand discrimination like a back woman would understand it.

hooks: Thank you for agreeing with me.

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Moraga: Now hold on hooks. You didn’t let me finish.

hooks: oh…sorry

Moraga: As I got older I was faced with a new challenge I wasn’t ready for. I am a lesbian, I

want sure for a long time if I really was or not. However, once I knew for sure that my heart

belonged to a certain woman I knew I could not hide who I was anymore. As word around my

local area started to spread about my sexual orientation things became a lot harder for me.

hooks: What happened?

Moraga: Well I started getting a lot of dirty looks from the people who lived in my town and

finding jobs became astronomically more difficult. Along with the fact that whenever I went into

stores or other areas it felt like I was an outcast and the whole world was against me. Suddenly it

seemed that the advantage I had was gone in an instant.

hooks: wow…

Moraga: Even though I can understand how being white can help you out a lot in life. There are

multiple things people discriminate against others for. Whether that be because imma woman or

because of my sexual orientation. The point is that even though Connie never understood what it

was like to be black, she did understand what it was like to be looked down upon by society. She

knows what it is like to be treated as though she is not an equal. Just like I understood both sides

of that playing field.

hooks: Incredible

De Beauvoir: Amazing

Moraga: What I’m trying to say is that both of you made some great points and there is no need

for you guys to be getting so heated over it. I know both of you are very passionate about your

beliefs which is a good thing. Just don’t let it get in the way of your friendship.
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De Beauvoir: You’re right. I’m sorry hooks I didn’t mean to make you upset.

hooks: I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have discounted the journey you’ve been on because you’re

white.

*hooks, Moraga, and De Beauvoir embrace for a group hug.

Moraga: Well now that we are all friends again. How about we watch another movie?

hooks: Let’s do it!

De Beauvoir: Should we make more popcorn?

Moraga: How about we make cookies?!

hooks: Oh Yea!

De Beauvoir: As long as they’re chocolate chip!

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Citation

De Beauvoir , Simone. “The Second Sex.” Perusall,

app.perusall.com/courses/eng-3010-01-s22-regular-literary-theory-and-cultural-std/de-beau

voir-intro-to-second-sex?assignmentId=vGBBqwvkrDPxghJad&part=1.

hooks, bell. “Feminist Theory From Margin To Center .” Perusall,

app.perusall.com/courses/eng-3010-01-s22-regular-literary-theory-and-cultural-std/hooks-i

ntro-to-feminist-theory-from-margins-to-center?assignmentId=ENRmhmkG93FnLCut6&p

art=1.

Lee, Spike, director. Blackkklansman . 10 Aug. 2018.

Moraga , Cherrie. “La Guera .” Perusall,

app.perusall.com/courses/eng-3010-01-s22-regular-literary-theory-and-cultural-std/this-bri

dge-called-my-back?assignmentId=nj8G4J9y5L5vXDd8P&part=1.