Awakening

And I find myself in the middle of a conversation between Simon de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan. They are arguing over how to make Feminism work. When Beauvoir says women should abandon everything that make them dependant on men, Friedan asks if she means lesbianism is the solution. Beauvoir says there are already too many people on earth- as if to say there is no need to procreate. Friedan asks, "Am I supposed to believe her?" There's clearly a clash.

In a most euphemistic way, Friedan criticizes Beauvoir for asking other women to detach themselves from men, when her own life has revolved around Satre. Beauvoir embraced Existentialism when Jean Paul Satre did and later Maoism, I've read. Friedan gets me thinking too. That fierce Feminism in the face of love! Which beats which?

From my own experience, Feminism is like Utopia. Loving a man, to be loved back is always more beautiful than fighting the social norms to change what you think isn't working for women. We often settle for the easier in life. Although between these two, I can't decide which is more difficult. How did Beauvoir manage this balance of being Radical and loving at the same time? I read stories about her meetings with Satre in French coffee shops and took off into such dreamy flights. This was when I was single, a college-girl. I imagined that's what love must be like- to talk to the man you love over coffee- talk, think, love and never have to worry about losing him to society. I still think of love like that.