Serge Gainsbourg and Chantal Goya (Photo credit: hannah karina)
“woman is specially made to please man. If man ought to please her in turn, the necessity is less urgent. His merit is in his power; he pleases because he is strong. This is not the law of love, I admit, but it is the law of nature, which is older than love itself. . . .
ooh, I like the idea of being specially made to please man, especially a strong man.
If woman is made to please and to be subjected, she ought to make herself pleasing to man instead of provoking him. Her strength is in her charms; by their means she should compel him to discover his strength and to use it. The surest way of arousing this strength is to make it necessary by resistance. Then amour-propre joins with desire, and the one triumphs from a victory that the other made him win. This is the origin of attack and defense, of the boldness of one sex and the timidity of the other, and even of the shame and modesty with which nature has armed the weak for the conquest of the strong. .
Does smiling or high heels count as charm? What’s the difference between provoking and resisting?
There is no parity between the two sexes when it comes to the consequence of sex. The male is only a male in certain instances; the female is female all her life or at least all her youth. Everything reminds her of her sex, and to fulfill well her functions she needs a constitution that relates to them.
ie. women should act like women all of her life
She needs care during pregnancy and rest when her child is born; she must have a quiet, sedentary life while she nurses her children; their education calls for patience and gentleness, for a zeal and affection which nothing can dismay.
I’ve noticed that if my internet/work life gets too exciting, I forget to think about the children as often as I should. Patience is such an important tool in my life, and I’m learning to be more gentle. Zeal and affection as tools of learning, makes sense to me.
She serves as a liasion between them and their father; she alone can make him love them and give him the confidence to call them his own. What tenderness and care is required to maintain a whole family as a unit! And finally all this must not come from virtues but from feelings without which the human species would soon be extinct.” (from Emile, Jean Jacques Rousseau)
again, tenderness is her method of encouraging him to be a father.
What do you think of Rousseau’s ideas?
Tagged: Amour-propre, Emile, Family, feminine, Femininity, French Revolution, Home, Jacques Rousseau, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Pleasing Your Husband, Relationships, Republican, Rousseau, Sexuality, Women
I agree completely w this article. Rousseau was wise beyond the times. Men NEED sex and good food. That is it…not sex w a whore but a loving woman at their side. My father in law just told me this today. He wants a divorce after 39 years of marriage becuz HE feels unloved. Men have feelings too…signed an independent married WOMAN.
I really liked his thoughts too, it’s nice to have a commenter agree, lets me know I’m not too crazy.
Sis,
I love this!!
Thank you, I thought he had some good insights. I think he takes it farther than I would, he doesn’t think women are intelligent enough for the sciences, I’m not sure how far his beliefs go concerning men’s superiority over women, but I think I’ll read his book anyway. He seems to understand masculine and feminine natures quite well, better than me anyway.
Sis,
While he may have had good insights into the area of male-female relations, I would remain skeptical at all times. Rousseau was among the most important contributors to the French Enlightenment. The French Revolution, being a synthesis of many philosophical theories, was largely shaped by him.
He does seem to be a powerful writer, and I don’t think he is a Christian, but not sure. I always thought the French revolution was a good thing, is there anything in particular to be wary about?
Sis,
I assumed because the part of the blogging world I see you in that you would know all about the French Revolution. Let me put it this way, it was the epitome of anti-Christianity; the great upheaval that, if there were any one event to point to the tearing down of Christianity, the patriarchy, and social cohesion it would be that one event.
Oh wow, okay. I never was much of a history person. I’ve heard of Marxism being to blame for feminism, but not the French Revolution. I just always thought of the French Revolution as a way that the poor escaped the oppression of the upper class.
Sis,
It was the French Revolution that was responsible for Marxism. This is why I say to remain highly skeptical of Rousseau even if he seems to be saying something wise.
“Now what distinguishes the French Revolution and makes it an event unique in history is that it is radically bad. No element of good disturbs the eye of the observer; it is the highest degree of corruption ever known; it is pure impurity.
On what page of history will you find such a great quantity of vices assembled at one time on the same stage? What a horrible assemblage of baseness and cruelty! What profound immorality! What absence of all decency!” – Joseph de Maistre
I doubt that information was ever in my textbooks, probably intentionally left out. My interest is piqued, I’m going to have to do some research on my own.
Sis,
No one has covered this topic better than the Mad Monarchist. He is a Conservative Christian and a very good writer.
http://madmonarchist.blogspot.com/search?q=French+Revolution
Thanks!
Sis,
Here is some more reading material.
“In ceremonies devised and organised by Chaumette, churches across France were transformed into modern Temples of Reason. At Notre Dame in Paris was the largest ceremony of them all. The Christian altar was dismantled and an altar to Liberty was installed; the inscription “To Philosophy” was carved in stone over the cathedral’s doors. The proceedings took several hours and concluded with the appearance of a Goddess of Reason who, to avoid idolatry, was portrayed by a living woman.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_Reason
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_the_Supreme_Being
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_Calendar
Kind of gives new meaning to do not seek wisdom under the sun, but under the heavens instead.