I.

Introduction: a. Question: Fanon states, In the train it was no longer a question of being aware of my body in the third person but in a triple person (63). He describes how he existed triply in that he was responsible at the same time for [his] body, for [his] race, and for [his] ancestors (63). How do women experience the same identity split that Fanon describes? b. In the introduction, I will point out that it is necessary to substitute gender for race. I will also draw the parallel between blacks existing apart from the perceived norm of being white (white subjectivity) and women existing apart from the perceived norm of being a man (male subjectivity). This will provide a reason for the triple existence of both blacks and women. c. Thesis: Women exist triply in the same way that Fanon describes as women are judged by their gender, objectified due to their bodies, characterized by their body movements, and defined by their ancestors actions all due to the perceived subjectivity of man and the view of women as Other.

II.

Body of the Essay a. Like blacks, women exist apart from the norm positioned opposite the perceived subject of man. This Otherness is a shared reason why both women and blacks exist as representations of their gender/race, body, and ancestors at the same time. i. Evidence: 1. the basic trait of woman: she is the Other in a totality of which the two components are necessary to one another (Beauvoir 152) 2. woman has always been mans dependent (Beauvoir 152) 3. The drama of woman lies in this conflict between the fundamental aspirations of every subject (ego) who always regards the self as essential and the compulsions of a situation in which she is the inessential (Beauvoir 156) 4. the bodily self-reference of feminine comportment, which derives from the womans experience of her body as a thing at the same time that she experiences it as a capacity (Young 167) ii. These all contribute to the cause of and backing of how women exist triply. The Otherness, a shared quality with blacks, creates the three existences that women are responsible for. b. The objectification of womens bodies contributes to the triple existence of women as women are judged in terms of their appearance and bodily presence. i. Evidence:

1. she appears essentially to the male as a sexual being. For him she is sex absolute sex, no less (Beauvoir 150) 2. Merleau-Pontylocat[es] subjectivity not in the mind or consciousness, but in the body (Young 167) 3. the body is the first locus of intentionality, as pure presence to the world and openness upon its possibilities (Young 167) 4. feminine bodily existence is self-referred to the extent that the feminine subject posits her motion as the motion that is looked at (Young 168) 5. an essential part of the situation of being a woman is that of living the ever-present possibility that one will be gazed upon as a mere body, a shape and flesh that presents itself as the potential object of another subjects intentions and manipulations (Young 172) 6. she also lives the threat of invasion of her body space. The most extreme form of suchis the threat of rape (Young 172) ii. All these form one way in which women are judged to exist. c. Another way in which women exist as a triple person is by the judgment and characterization made based on their body movement and ability. i. Evidence 1. Women often experience our bodies as fragile encumbrance (Young 167) 2. in entering a task [women] are frequently self-conscious about appearing awkward and at the same time do not wish to appear strong (Young 167) 3. she often lives her body as a burden, which must be dragged and prodded along and at the same time protected (Young 168) 4. the character of the inhibited intentionality whereby feminine motion serves the connection between aim and enactment, between possibility in the world and capacity in the body, itself produces this discontinuous unity (Young 169) 5. feminine existence experiences the body as a mere thing a fragile thing which must be picked up and coaxed into movement, a thing that exists as looked at and acted upon (Young 169) d. Gender presents another factor by which women exist triply as ideas and misconceptions contribute to the identity split that occurs. i. Evidence: 1. in the economic sphere men and women can almost be said to make up two castes; other things being equal, the former hold the

better jobs, get higher wages and have more opportunity for success than their competitors (Beauvoir 152) 2. in feminine existence there is a double spatiality as the space of the here is distinct from the space of the yonder. The space of yonder is a space in which feminine existence projects possibilities in the sense of understanding that someone could move within it, but not I (Young 171) 3. the young girl acquires many subtle habits of feminine body comportment walking like a girl, tilting her head like a girl, standing and sitting like a girl, gesturing like a girl, and so on (Young 171) 4. the more a girl assumes her status as feminine, the more she takes herself to be fragile and immobile and the more she actively enacts her own body inhibition (Young 171) e. Ancestors, or history, greatly contribute to the triple existence of women as the actions of past women define a large part of how women are perceived and judged. i. Evidence: 1. Women have no past, no history, no religion of their own; and they have no such solidarity of work and interest as that of the proletariat (Beauvoir 152) 2. the religions invented by men reflect the wish for domination of women (Beauvoir 153) 3. every human existence is defined by its situation; the particular existence of the female person is no less defined by the historical, cultural, social, and economic limits of her situation (Young 164) III. Conclusion: a. Women exist triply in the same way that Fanon describes as women are judged by their gender, objectified due to their bodies, characterized by their body movements, and defined by their ancestors actions all due to the perceived subjectivity of man and the view of women as Other. b. Discuss how ancestors and history provide a way in which women are/can tear down this triple existence