<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The thesis of the present paper is to investigate the reasons why it may become difficult for the 20<sup>th</sup> century Western woman to avoid feeling trapped within her status of motherhood and to transcend her immanence as a woman. Simone de Beauvoir argues in <underline>The Second Sex,</underline> Part V, chapter XVII (“The Mother”) that the modern Western woman proves unable to transgress her own immanence. What are the three factors that stand in the way of the woman's existential telos? What is the natural consequence of her Snow White-type of imprisonment? Will she impose the same pattern of panoptic surveillance upon her own offspring?</p></abstract>

The thesis of the present paper is to investigate the reasons why it may become difficult for the 20th century Western woman to avoid feeling trapped within her status of motherhood and to transcend her immanence as a woman. Simone de Beauvoir argues in The Second Sex, Part V, chapter XVII (“The Mother”) that the modern Western woman proves unable to transgress her own immanence. What are the three factors that stand in the way of the woman's existential telos? What is the natural consequence of her Snow White-type of imprisonment? Will she impose the same pattern of panoptic surveillance upon her own offspring?

Simone De Beauvoir: Transgressing Immanence, Motherhood And Social Constructs

West University of Timişoara, Romania, 4, Vasile Pârvan Blvd, 300223 Timişoara

Gender Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Simone De Beauvoir: Transgressing Immanence, Motherhood And Social Constructs"}

The thesis of the present paper is to investigate the reasons why it may become difficult for the 20th century Western woman to avoid feeling trapped within...

Simone De Beauvoir: Transgressing Immanence, Motherhood And Social Constructs

Published Online: Mar 25, 2015

Page range: 118 - 130

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/genst-2015-0009

Keywords
existential ethics, immanence, motherhood, spiritual flatness, transgression

© ELISABETA ZELINKA

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Simone De Beauvoir: Transgressing Immanence, Motherhood And Social Constructs

Published Online: Mar 25, 2015

Page range: 118 - 130

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/genst-2015-0009

Keywordsexistential ethics, immanence, motherhood, spiritual flatness, transgression

© ELISABETA ZELINKA

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
existential ethics, immanence, motherhood, spiritual flatness, transgression