In my previous post on The Second Sex and what it has to say about women’s creative work, I showed the technique of OWN ~ TURN ~ OWN. In this post I share the quotes and ‘turnings’ that I extracted from Chapter 14 The Independent Woman. They are offered for anyone who wants to do their own work on this insightful and challenging text; to take or to leave, to contemplate and maybe dismiss. Even perhaps to serve as fuel for your practice.
Not for the faint-hearted!
Example:
“Throwing oneself boldly towards goals risks setbacks: but one also attains unexpected results; prudence necessarily leads to mediocrity.
TURNING:
I throw myself boldly towards goals, and thereby risk setbacks. ”
And just like that, oil on canvas panel, 20 x 25 cm. Lynne Cameron, 2023
“Her sterile vanity comes from the fact that she cherishes herself without daring to construct herself.
TURNING:
I dare to construct myself (and cherish myself)”
From Chapter 14 The Independent Woman, I extracted statements that Simone de Beauvoir makes about women artists and writers, in particular and in general. Doing this is an act of noticing and attending that you might want to do for yourself. If not, you can find the list of quotes here: List of quotes from Chapter 14, in order.
The next step was to TURN each statement*, using I … rather than she, woman. For example:
she tries to deny her intelligence as an ageing woman tries to deny her age
becomes
I do not deny my intelligence... or my age
Each act of turning took me deeper into de Beauvoir’s ideas and my responses. I recommend doing it yourself but if you want it, my list of quotes and turnings/reversals is here.
This list has accompanied me throughout the last 8 years I have pondered it, read it aloud while walking the room, hidden it, refound it, and been re-energised by it countless times. They have become a list of affirmations, a kind of creed, a manifesto.
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*I’ve come to appreciate TURNING or reversing as a technique from the Byron Katie’s Four Questions in her book Loving What is, from Jung’s ideas of the Shadow, and David Richo’s book Shadow Dance.
In the next post, the themes of Chapter 14, a summary.