Chapter 2 Chapter 1 The Sexual Life of Animals: Biological Basis-2

Water is an element in which eggs and sperm can float and combine, and fertilization in water environments almost always takes place outside the body.Most fish do not have sexual intercourse, at most they stimulate each other through contact.The mother releases the egg, the father releases the sperm—they do the same thing.There is no reason to think that mothers should feel more responsible for their eggs than fathers.In some species, the eggs are abandoned by the parents and grow up without care.Sometimes the mother prepares a nest for the eggs, and sometimes the mother guards the eggs after fertilization.But more often the father takes care of them.Once the male has fertilized the eggs, he drives the female away, lest she eat them, and furiously defends the eggs from any infestation.Some males enclose a protective nest in an insulating substance by blowing air.In most cases, the males protect the developing eggs in their mouths, or, like seahorses, in a compartment on their abdomen.

A similar phenomenon can be seen in amphibians (frogs and spiders).They don't understand real sexual intercourse, what they practice is clinging, in which the male hugs the female tightly and stimulates her to release eggs.When the eggs are released, the sperm is deposited on them.In midwifery spiders, the male coils strings of eggs down his hind legs to protect them.When the larvae are about to hatch into centipedes, they are sent to the water again. The eggs of birds are formed very slowly inside the female body.It is relatively large, so it is a little difficult to discharge.The egg is more closely connected to the mother than to the father, who only fertilizes it by brief sexual intercourse.Usually the mother lies on top of the eggs and takes care of the newly hatched chicks.But fathers are often useful when it comes to nest building, protecting and feeding their young.In rare cases, such as sparrows, the father does the hatching and feeding.Both the cock and the hen secrete milk from the nipple sac and jointly feed the feathered young pigeons.Remarkably, when involved in feeding the young, the males were too preoccupied with producing sperm to produce sperm—the males were too busy keeping alive and thus had no urge to produce new organisms.

Life in mammals assumes the most complex forms, with individualization very advanced and well-defined.The separation of the two elements of life, the separation of continuation and creation, is clearly realized in the separation of the sexes.It is in such groups, such as vertebrates, that the mother maintains the closest relationship with her offspring, while the father is less interested in this relationship.The female organism is fully adapted and subordinate to motherhood, whereas sexual agency is the prerogative of the male. Females are victims of the species.During a certain time of the year (this time is fixed for each species) the female's entire life is dominated by the sexual cycle (estrus).The duration of the sexual cycle, as well as the sequence of its rhythms, vary from species to species.The sexual cycle consists of two phases: the first phase, when the eggs (the number of which vary by species) mature, the lining of the uterus thickens, and blood vessels in the lining become engorged; the second phase, when (if not fertilized) the eggs disappear and the endometrium Ruptured, intimal fragments are expelled from the body with a more or less pronounced blood flow, which does not last long.This phenomenon is commonly known in women and related mammals as menstruation.If fertilization does occur, the second phase is replaced by pregnancy.The ovulation period (the end of the first phase) is commonly called the estrus period (estrus), and it coincides with the cycle of estrus, estrus, or sexual activity.

Estrus in female mammals is largely passive, in preparation for the arrival of a male.Like some birds, mammals may also have females seducing males, but this is just to attract males by screaming, showing off, and making obscene gestures. It is impossible to force males to have sex. The final decision is still male.We see that even among insects it is usually the male who takes the initiative in fertilization, though the insect female has a great privilege in return for her complete devotion to the species.Males in fish stimulate females to ovulate, often by presence and contact.Frogs and bribe males act as stimulators by clinging.But especially among birds and mammals, males dominate females, who often submissively or even defy him.

Even if the female is willing or provocative, it is undoubtedly the male who possesses the female, and the female is possessed. The word "possession" is often applied because, whether using special organs or superior strength, a male can capture a female, force her into position, and perform the act of sexual intercourse.And among insects, birds, and mammals, the male also penetrates the female.This penetration makes the female internally violated, as if the female is a closure, which is suddenly inserted.Males are not violating the species, because a species can only survive if it is constantly renewed, and if the egg and sperm are not united, the species will die out.But the female is entrusted with protecting the eggs, which she locks tightly inside her body; while her body protects the eggs, it also acts as a defense against fertilization by the male.His body thus becomes the barrier that must be breached, and the male only achieves his initiative when it comes to penetration.

The dominance of the male is manifested in the coitus posture. In almost all animals, the male is located above the female during coitus.The organ used by the male is of course an object, but it seems alive at this moment—it is an instrument, while the female organ is more of an erotic vessel during coitus.Males are storing sperm and females are receiving sperm.So although the female plays a very important active role in reproduction, she is submissive to sexual intercourse.Coitus violates its individuality, introducing an alien element through penetration and internal conception.Although she may feel her sexual drive as a need of her own, as she searches for males in estrus, she still sees sexual adventure as an internal event rather than experiencing it as an external relationship with the world and others of her kind.

But the fundamental difference between the male mammal and the female mammal is that, although the male life is transcended in the other by the sperm, at that moment the sperm becomes a stranger to the male and separates from his body.Thus the male transcends his individuality and at the same time restores it fully.On the contrary, when the egg is fully mature, emerges from the imprinted vesicle, and falls into the fallopian tube, it begins the process of separation from the female body; affiliated.The female is first violated and then alienated—it becomes somehow different from itself.The female carries the fetus in her womb until it reaches a certain stage of development.This stage of development varies between species—guinea pigs are born almost adults, while kangaroos are born almost embryonic.Being rented by another life, this life has to be fed by the female's substance throughout the pregnancy, so the female is both herself and not herself, and after giving birth, she has to use her own milk to feed the newborn body.So when should a new individual be considered autonomous, at fertilization, at childbirth, or at weaning?It's not so clear.It is noteworthy that the more distinctly the female appears as a separate individual, the more imperious is the resistance of the continuity of reproduction to her separateness.Fish and birds, which expel eggs from the body before the embryonic body develops, are less bound to offspring than female mammals.After the female has given birth to her offspring, she regains a certain autonomy—a certain distance is established between herself and her offspring; and this separation dedicates her to her offspring.It has shown dynamism and innovation in its benefit to future generations.It fights to protect its offspring from other animals and may even become aggressive.But under normal circumstances it does not want to prove its individuality; it shows no hostility towards males or other animals, and rarely displays aggressive instincts.In spite of Darwin's theory of sexual selection (which is currently very controversial), females accept any male that happens to be around without discrimination.Females are not lacking in individual abilities—quite the opposite is actually the case.It is sometimes able to maintain equality with the male when it occasionally escapes the servitude of motherhood.A mare runs as fast as a stallion, a bitch has the same sense of smell as a male; tests have shown that a female monkey is as smart as a male.It's just that the female doesn't see this individuality as her own.The female relinquishes it for the benefit of the species, and the species requires the female to make this relinquishment.

Many males are not like that at all.As we have seen, it is itself detached, retaining its individuality within itself, even when transcending to the next generation.This feature is present from insects to the highest animals.Even among fish and cetaceans, although they live peacefully in mixed aquariums, males during estrus separate themselves from other species, isolate themselves, and become aggressive towards other males.Female sexual desire is intuitive and direct, while male sexual desire is felt indirectly through the intermediary environment.There is a distance between male desire and satisfaction which he actively overcomes.It makes an effort to find the female, touch and caress her, and calm her down before penetrating.In this activity, as we have mentioned, the organs used by the male are often better developed than those used by the female.It is worth noting that the vital impulse which leads to the profusion of spermatozoa is also expressed in the male by the appearance of his bright plumage, gleaming scales, antennae, horns, mane, etc., by his voice and by his exuberant vitality. .We no longer think of the "fancy wedding dress" that a male wears during rutting, or the seductive gestures he makes, as a matter of choice.But they do indicate vitality, giving the male a sudden, though superfluous, radiance that is terribly lovely.This excess of vitality, these activities directed toward mating, and the absolute confirmation of his right to dominion over the female during coitus, help him to maintain the male individual in his vital transcendence.In this respect, Hegel was right to see that the male has a subjective component, while the female is always committed to the species.Subjectivity and detachment directly predict conflict.Aggression is one of the characteristics of estrous males, but cannot be explained by mate competition, since females and males are roughly equal in number.Rather, this rivalry should be explained by a willingness to fight.It may be said that, before reproduction, the male believes that the behavior that will lead to the perpetuation of the species is his own right, and the male in the struggle with the same kind further confirms the reality of his individuality.The species dwells in the female, absorbing most of her individual life; the male, on the contrary, incorporates the life force of the species into his individual life.No doubt the male also succumbs to forces beyond his control: sperm are formed in his body, he periodically feels the urge to estrus.But these processes account for a much smaller total in the male body than in the female body during estrus.Sperm production is not expendable, and indeed egg production is not expendable either.It is the development of fertilized eggs in adult animals that allows females to perform tasks that require a lot of energy.Coitus is an act that can be done quickly, with little cost to the male's vitality.Males show little paternal instinct.Males tend to abandon females after coitus.If she stays with the female as the head of the family group (monogamous, polygamous, or group marriage), she is generally the one who provides for and protects the community.The males only care about the hatchlings directly on extremely rare occasions.In species with a high capacity for individual development, the male's strong claim to autonomy tends to be satisfactorily gratified, whereas in lower animals it often means his undoing.The male is generally larger, stronger, quicker, and more adventurous than the female; he lives a more independent life, his activities are more spontaneous; he is more dominant and more bossy.It is always the chief in mammalian society.

Nothing in the world is ever completely clear.The two types, male and female, are not always distinct.Although they sometimes show dimorphism in fur color, or in the arrangement of spots and stripes, it seems that the boundaries are very clear, but on the other hand, it may also be difficult to distinguish, and even their functions are difficult to distinguish, as many fish.But in the animal kingdom as a whole, and especially in the highest animals, the two sexes express two different aspects of the life of the species.The difference between them is not that of activity and passivity, as it has been claimed; for the nucleus of the ovum is active, and the development of the embryo body is an active, dynamic process, not a mechanical one. Expand.It would be too simplistic to describe this difference as one of change and permanence.For the sperm can only be created by virtue of its vitality being maintained in the fertilized ovum, while the ovum can survive only by undergoing a developmental change, without which it would degenerate and perish.

It is true, however, that in the two processes of maintenance and creation (both active), synthesis is not accomplished in the same way.Sustaining means negating the dispersion of the moment, and it means forming continuity in the flow of the moment.To create is to annul the generally irreducible, separate present from the temporal unity.Of course, the continuous life of the female pursues realization regardless of separation, but the force of separation into new individuals is caused by the initiative of the male.So the male is free to express himself, the energies of the species fully merged with his own life-initiative.On the contrary, female individuality is opposed to the interests of the species, as if it were possessed by external forces—alienated.Therefore, when the individuation of the relevant organism is more obvious, as in the advanced form, the sharp difference between the sexes does not shrink, but expands.The male can find more and more ways to use the power he controls; the female feels more and more enslaved, and the conflict between her own interests and her reproductive power increases.Cows and mares give birth more painfully and dangerously than rats and rabbits.The woman, who is the most individualized of all females, seems to be the most vulnerable and vulnerable to this pain and danger: she is the most dramatic in fulfilling the demands of fate, and the most different from the male.

Like most animals, humans have nearly equal numbers of both sexes.In the West, the ratio of men to women is about 1. 5: lin.Embryological development of the sexes is similar; however, the primordial epithelium (from which the ovaries or testes develop) is neutral for a longer period of time in females, so, due to longer periods of hormonal influence, it The development of can often be reversed.Thus the majority of pseudohermaphrodites may be genotypically female subjects who later masculinized.One might think that male tissue is initially determined in this way, while female embryos take on female characteristics more slowly.However, these early phenomena of fetal life are still poorly understood and no definite explanation can yet be given. Once the reproductive system is determined, it will form a correspondence between the sexes.The sex hormones of both sexes belong to the same chemical group, the sterol chemical group.All hormones ultimately come from cholesterol.They restrict the differences in the secondary sexual characteristics of the constitution.Neither the chemical formula of hormones nor anatomical traits are sufficient to define a human female.What makes her particularly different from men is her functional development. Male development is relatively simple.From birth to puberty, his development is regular.Sperm production begins at the age of fifteen or sixteen and continues into old age.Along with the sperm, the hormones start to be produced, forming the characteristics of the male body.Henceforth, the male's sexual life is often identified with his individual existence: in his desire, in his coitus, his transcendence of the species coincides with his subjectivity - he is his body. Women's experiences are much more complex.A supply of oocytes is established even in embryonic life, and the ovary contains about 40,000 immature eggs, each in a follicle, and perhaps a few more will eventually mature.From birth the species already possesses women, and this control is easily enforced.After the woman came to the world, she experienced the initial puberty due to the sudden enlargement of the oocyte.Later, the ovary shrunk to only 1/5 of its original size—someone might say that the girl finally had a chance to breathe.Although her body is developing, her reproductive system has barely changed.Some follicles get bigger, but not mature.A little girl develops in a similar way to a little boy; at the same age she sometimes even grows taller and heavier than him.But at puberty the species reasserts its rights.Under the action of ovarian secretions, the number of developing follicles increases, the ovaries contain more blood, become larger, one of the follicles matures, and the first menstrual period begins.The size and shape of the reproductive system begins to be fixed, the body begins to have a feminine silhouette, and endocrine balance begins to be established. It is worth noting that this incident has a crisis side from beginning to end.It is true that the female body does not allow the species to take over without resistance; but such resistance is excruciating and dangerous.Roughly equal numbers of boys and girls die before puberty.From the age of 14 to 18, the ratio of male to female deaths is lin:8, and from 18 to 22, the ratio is lin:105.Ailments such as chlorosis, tuberculosis, scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and osteomyelitis (inflammation of the bone marrow) were frequent in girls during this period.Sometimes puberty is abnormally precocious, four or five years earlier.In contrast, other girls have not yet developed puberty, are still in their infancy, and suffer from menstrual disorders (amenorrhea or menstrual pain).Some women show signs of masculinity due to overproduction of the adrenal glands. These perversions do not represent the triumph of the individual over the species; escape is simply impossible, since the species, in enslaving the life of the individual, simultaneously sustains and nurtures it.This duality is expressed in the function of the ovaries, since the life force of a woman is rooted in the ovaries, and the life force of men is rooted in the testicles.In both sexes, the castrated individual is not only sterile, he or she is regressive, degenerate.Because of its improper structure, the whole organism is lifeless and out of balance; it can only grow and mature when its reproductive system grows and matures.Moreover, many life phenomena have nothing to do with the individual life of the subject, and may even become the source of danger.The mammary glands, which begin to develop during puberty, serve no purpose in a woman's individual structure and can be removed at any point in life.Many ovarian secretions serve the egg, they promote the maturation of the egg and adapt the uterus to the egg's needs.In the organism as a whole, these secretions contribute not so much to regulation as to imbalance—the woman is adapting not so much to her own needs as to the needs of her egg. From adolescence to menopause, women become the scene of theatrical performances.The drama unfolded within her, but had nothing to do with herself.The Anglo-Saxons called menstruation "the bane"; from the woman's individual point of view, menstruation is indeed a burden, a useless thing.In Aristotle's time, it was believed that the menstrual blood that came out each month was ready to be used to form the blood and flesh of the baby if fertilization occurred.The truth of this ancient idea rests in the fact that a woman does, time and time again, roughly lay the groundwork for conception.In the lower animals, estrus is restricted to a particular season and is not accompanied by bleeding.Only among primates (monkeys, apes, and humans) is the estrus period characterized by monthly bleeding and varying degrees of pain.Every 14 days or so, a Graffian cyst follicle enclosing the egg enlarges, matures, and secretes the hormone follicle (estrogen).Ovulation occurs around day 14: the follicle protrudes from the surface of the ovary and ruptures (sometimes with light bleeding), the egg enters the fallopian tube, and the rupture becomes the corpus luteum.The latter secretes the hormone progesterone, which acts on the uterus during the second phase of the menstrual cycle.The endometrium then begins to thicken and has the function of a gland; it is full of blood vessels and forms a cradle inside the uterus, ready to receive a fertilized egg.Proliferation of these cells is irreversible, and if fertilization does not occur, an intimal fragment will not be absorbed.In lower mammals, these fragments can be excreted gradually or through lymphatic vessels.But in women and other primates, the thickened endometrium ruptures suddenly, opening up blood vessels and spaces for blood flow, and blood clots slowly flow out with menstrual blood.The corpus luteum then recedes, the wrinkled lining of the uterus forms again, and the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle begins anew. Many details of this complex process remain unfathomable to this day.It affects the entire female organism because there is a hormonal reaction between the ovaries and other endocrine organs such as the pituitary, thyroid and adrenal glands, affecting the central nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system, and even the entire internal organs.Almost all women—more than 85 percent—show signs of pain to varying degrees during menstruation.Blood pressure rises before menstruation begins and then falls; pulse rate increases.Body temperature is often elevated, and thus often fever; abdominal pain; a tendency to diarrhea followed by constipation is often seen; large, closed and proteinuria are also often present.Many women also suffer from pharyngitis, visual and hearing impairments; menstruation begins with increased perspiration, accompanied by a saipo [special] odor, which is strong and may persist until the end of menstruation.The rate of basal metabolism increases and the number of red blood cells decreases.Blood contains substances normally stored in tissues, especially calcium salts.The presence of these substances has an effect on the ovaries, the thyroid gland and the pituitary gland (which regulates changes in the thighs in the uterus).The thyroid becomes larger and the brain becomes more active.Instability of this gland leads to extreme instability of the nerve.Due to frequent headaches, the central nervous system is affected, and the sympathetic meridian system is overactive; the subconscious control of the central nervous system is weakened, and the reflex compound ability of spasms is relieved, resulting in obvious erratic temperament.Women are now more excitable, nervous, and irritable than usual, and may experience serious psychological disturbances.During menstruation, she felt painfully that her body was a vague foreign body.Her body was actually the victim of a stubborn alien life that cradles her body once a month and then destroys it.Every month, you have to prepare everything for your child, and then you line up in the anti-pollution class. Like a man, a woman is also her own body, but her capable body is something different from her own. When fertilization has taken place, and the divided ovum falls into the zygote and develops there, the woman feels a more profound alienation.It is true that pregnancy is a normal failure which, if it occurs in a state of good health and nutrition, does no harm to the mother.Certain interactions that develop between mother and fetus even benefit her.But despite the remarkably obvious social benefits of an optimistic view, pregnancy is a grueling chore that, far from doing the woman any good, requires her to make enormous sacrifices.The first month of pregnancy is often accompanied by loss of appetite and vomiting, which are not seen in any domestic female animals, and they mark the resistance of the organism to the invasion of the species.In addition, it is accompanied by the loss of phosphorus, calcium and iron, and it is difficult to make up for iron in the future; the overactive metabolism stimulates the endocrine system; the sympathetic nervous system becomes more and more excited; due to the lack of iron, the specific gravity of the blood decreases; A similar thing happens "when people are fasting and starving, when they are bleeding frequently, and when they are recovering from illness."All that a healthy and well-nourished woman can expect is to recover these losses without difficulty after childbirth.But frequent serious accidents, or at least dangerous disturbances, become the defining features of the pregnancy process.If a woman's body is not strong, and if health measures are not taken, multiple births can leave her prematurely aging and deformed, as is often the case among poor rural women.Childbirth itself is painful and dangerous.It is clear that the body is not always working in the best interest of the species and the individual during this crisis.The baby may die, or, on the other hand, the birth of the baby may take the life of the mother, or leave her chronically deranged.Breastfeeding is also a nasty chore.Factors, especially the hormone prolactin, trigger the mammary glands to secrete milk.Some inflammation and often fever may accompany this process.In any case, the breastfeeding mother is using her life resources to feed the newborn.The clash of species and individual, sometimes with dramatic force in childbirth, creates a disturbing fragility in the female body.It is well said that a woman's "belly is weak."Indeed, there is a hostile element within them—the species that consumes their vitality.Often what makes them sick is not some external infection but some internal disorder.For example, the lining of the uterus often becomes unnaturally inflamed in response to abnormal stimuli.If the corpus luteum persists after menstruation instead of falling off, the fallopian tubes and endometrium become inflamed, and so on. Although women finally got rid of the iron grip of the species, they fell into another serious crisis.Menopause, the opposite of puberty, occurs between the ages of 45 and SO, and the weakening and disappearance of ovarian activity leads to the depletion of the individual's vitality.One might think that the metabolic glands, such as the thyroid and pituitary, would somehow complement the function of the ovaries.Thus, not only the naturally occurring decrease in function due to vital changes should be noted, but also signs of excitement such as high blood pressure, emotional agitation, nervousness, and occasionally hypersexuality.At this time some women will start to gain weight, others will start to masculinize.Most women form a new endocrine balance.At this moment woman is freed from the servitude imposed upon her by her feminine nature, but she should not be compared to an eunuch, for her vitality is not diminished.More importantly, she is no longer a victim of that invincible force.She is who she is, and she is one with her body.It has been said that, at a certain age, women constitute the "third sex"; indeed, while they are not men, they are no longer women either.This liberation of the female physiology does often manifest itself in the health, balance, and vitality that they lacked before. In addition to the basic sexual characteristics, women have a variety of secondary sexual characteristics, which are more or less directly produced as a result of the primary sexual characteristics and through the action of hormones.On average, women are shorter and lighter than men, with thinner bones and a larger pelvis, which accommodates the functions of pregnancy and childbirth.A woman's connective tissue accumulates fat, so her figure is plumper than a man's.In conclusion, there are marked differences in physical appearance between men and women, such as physique, skin and hair.Women's muscle strength is much smaller, only about 2/3 of that of men.Her lung capacity is smaller, as are her lungs and trachea.Her throat is smaller, so the female voice is higher.A woman's blood has a smaller specific gravity and less hemoglobin, so her body is not as strong as a man's, and she is more prone to anemia.Her pulse beat faster, her vascular system was less stable, and she blushed at any time.Instability is.A very distinct feature of the general organization of women.Among other things, men also exhibit greater stability in calcium metabolism, whereas women can only fix very little calcium and lose large amounts of it during menstruation and pregnancy.It appears that the ovaries act as a catabolic agent for calcium, and thus instability causes difficulties for the ovaries and thyroid; women have a more developed thyroid than men.Endocrine disturbances affect the sympathetic nervous system, so nerve and muscle control is disrupted.This instability, and lack of control, forms the basis of female sentimentalism, and it is closely related to circulatory instability, such as heart palpitations and blushing, so women are prone to agitation, such as tears, hysterical laughter and nervousness. . This again clearly shows that most of these characteristics stem from woman's subordination to the species, and from this examination we can draw the most startling conclusion: that of all female mammals, woman is the most alienated (her Individuality is the victim of external forces), and she is the most violent against this alienation; in other females, the enslavement of the organism by reproduction is not so arbitrary, so reluctantly accepted.The crisis of puberty, the monthly "bane," long and often difficult pregnancies, painful and sometimes dangerous deliveries, illness, unexpected symptoms and complications—these are all hallmarks of the human female.It seems that her fate is more severe than that of other females, and therefore she is more determined to maintain her individuality.Compared with her, man seems to have an infinite advantage: his sexual life is not opposed to his existence as a human being, and his experience of existence is biologically smooth, without crises and generally without catastrophes .Women live on average as long as men, or slightly longer, but they are often ill, often beyond their control. These biological reasons are extremely important.They play a part of the first importance in a woman's experience, and constitute an essential element of her situation.We will always keep them in mind as we go deeper into our discussions.Because the body is a tool for us to grasp the world, and the world must be very different in different ways of understanding.That's why we've done a lengthy study of the biological facts that are one of the keys to knowing a woman.But I do not admit that these facts establish a fixed and inevitable destiny for woman.These facts do not suffice to establish a gender hierarchy, nor to explain why woman is the Other, nor to condemn her to perpetuate this subordination. People tend to insist that the answers to these questions should be sought only in biology: Are individuals' chances of success the same in both sexes?Which sex is more important to the species?It must be noted, however, that the first problem is an entirely different one for women than for other females; since the species of animals is fixed, it can be explained from a static point of view—merely by collecting observations, It is possible to determine whether a mare can run as fast as a stallion, or an intelligence test to determine whether a male orangutan outperforms a female—but the human species is always in flux, forever in formation. Some materialist scholars approach this question in a purely static way.Influenced by the mind-body parallelism of psychophysiology, they wanted to make mathematical comparisons between male and female organisms—a measure they believed would directly reveal the functional capacities of both sexes.For example, these scholars have engaged in very serious but frivolous discussions about the relative and absolute weight of male and female brains—after making various corrections, the results are still not convincing.But to the dismay of these cautious scholars, it was impossible to establish any relationship between brain weight and intelligence level.Likewise, one cannot base either.Kinetic interpretation to design male and female hormonal chemical equations. As for the current research, I absolutely do not accept the mind-body parallel theory of psychophysiology, because this is a theory that has long lost its foundation.If I mention it at all, it is because, though philosophically and scientifically bankrupt, it still haunts the minds of many.I also don't accept any system of comparison, since it assumes that there is a natural hierarchy or scale of value - such as that of evolution.It is futile to ask whether the female body is less mature than the male body, somewhat resembling that of an ape.All these discourses, which confuse vague naturalism with still more vague ethics or aesthetics, are mere rhetoric.We can only compare human females and males from a human point of view.But a man is defined as a fluid being who seeks to be in conformity with himself.As Merleau-Ponty justly pointed out, man is not a natural species: he is a historical idea.Woman is not a finished reality but rather a becoming, and precisely because she is becoming she should be compared with man; that is, her potentialities should be interpreted.In raising the question of her potentiality, it is the tendency to reduce her to who she was, to who she is today, which has caused much controversy.因为事实是，潜能只有在实现时才能够清楚地得到证明——然而事实也是，当我们不得不和一个具有超越本性的人打交道时，我们决不可以合上账本。 尽管如此，人们仍然会说，身体即使不是一个物，也是一种处境，如我要采纳的海德格尔、萨特和梅洛一庞蒂的观点，就是这么认为的。身体是我们把握世界的工具，是制约我们设计的一个因素。女人比男人弱，肌肉力不那么强，红血球较少，肺活量也不大；她跑得比较慢，只能举起不太重的东西，几乎在任何体育项目中都不能和男人相匹敌；她打不过男人。除了所有这些弱点，还必须加上前面已提过的缺乏稳定性和控制力，以及脆弱性。所有这些都是事实，所以她对世界的把握能力才比较有限，她才一般来说缺乏她不太胜任的设计所需要的坚定与沉着。换言之，她的个人生活才不如男人那么丰富。 这些事实当然不容否认——但它们本身毫无意义。一旦我们采纳了人的观点，根据生存去解释身体，生物学就会变成一门抽象的学科。生理学的这个事实（如肌肉不发达）无论何时有意义，人们都会马上认为它取决于整个处境。只有根据男人提出的目的、他可得到的工具和所确立的法律，这种“弱点”才会得到如此揭示。如果他不想驾驭世界，把握事物这个概念就会变得毫无意义；如果这种驾驭不需要付出全部体力，不需要超出可达到的最低限度，体力差别就会消失。每当暴力与习俗相背，肌肉力就不可能成为取得支配地位的依据。简单地说，'溺点”这个概念，只有从存在主义的、经济的和道德的角度来加以考察，才可以予以确定。有人说人类是非自然的，但这个命题是不确切的，因为人不可能否认事实。但是，他通过处理事实来确立关于事实的真理；只有包括他的主动性，对他来说自然才是现实的——他自己的本性也不例外。就像让女人去把握世界，抽象地测量生殖功能强加于她的负担，这也同样是不可能的。母性对个体生命的影响，在动物那里受发情期和季节的自然调节，而在女人那里却没有明确规定——社会是唯一的仲裁者。从社会所要求的生育数量和为怀孕与分娩所提供的卫生条件来看，物种对女人的奴役多少有些严酷。因此，虽然就高等动物的个体生存来说，雄性的确比雌性坚持得专横，但人类的个体“潜能”有赖于经济和社会的处境。 但不管怎么说，雄性的个体特权在物种内部并非总是赋予雄性以优越地位，因为雌性在怀孕时获得了它自己的某种自由。朱克曼对狒狒的研究表明，有时雄性确实处于支配地位；但许多物种的两性过着分居生活，而狮子的两性平等地分担着兽穴里的义务。这里仍不可能把人的处境归结为任何别的处境。首先，不应当把人解释为单纯的个体；男人和女人从未相互对立过，也从没有进行过一对一的决斗；夫妻是原始的Mforin以伴〕，是基本的联合体；因而他们永远是大集体中的一个长久或短暂的要素。 在这样一个社会中，哪个性别对物种更重要，是男性还是女性？在配于这个意义上，在性交与怀孕功能这个意义上，如我们所见，男性本原为维持而创造，女性本原为创造而维持。但在种种社会生活形态中，这一劳动分工都有哪些形式？在依附其他机体或基层的座生物种中，在无须费力就可以从自然界得到丰富养料的物种中，雄性的作用只限于授精。一旦必须用搜寻、追猎和战斗来提供幼体所需要的食物，雄性为了供养幼体大多都能够进行合作。在后代断乳后的很长一段时间仍不能自理的物种当中，这种合作是绝对需要的；这时雄性的帮助之所以极端重要，是因为若没有雄性，它创造的生命就不能得以维持。一个雄性每年可以让老干个雌性受孕，但这也要求它向每一个雌性保证后代出生后能够存活下来，要求它保护它们不受敌人的侵犯，要求它从自然界索取必需的食物以满足它们的需要。在人类历史上，生产力与生殖力之间的平衡，在不同的经济条件下是以不同方式确立的，这些条件制约着男女同后代的关系，因而也在制约着男女的相互关系。但是现在我们就要离开生物学领域去讨论其他问题；只从生物学出发，我们还无法断定究竟哪一个性别该对物种的永存起最重要的作用。 但是实际上社会不是物种，因为物种是通过社会取得生存地位的，并使自身向世界和未来超越。它的生存方式和习俗不可能根据生物学去推断，因为构成社会的个人决不会听任本性的摆布；倒不如说他们在服从第二本性，即习俗。在习俗当中，作为他们主要本性的表现的欲望与恐惧得到了反映。主体不仅仅作为一个身体，而且作为一个服从禁忌和法律的身体，去意识自我并实现自我——他根据某些价值去评估他自己。而价值所能赖以存在的基础仍然不属于生理学；相反，生物学事实所具有的价值却要靠生存者去赋予。如果女人所引起的敬畏可以阻止对她使用暴力，那么男性在肌肉上的优越性就不会成为权力的根源。如果习俗规定少女可以自己选择丈夫（如某些印第安部落），或者，如果由父亲去支配婚姻选择，那么男性的性攻击性就不会赋予他任何主动权和任何优势。由于把价值赋予了孩子——这种价值千变万化的密切联系是她获得尊严或蒙受耻辱的根源；如我们所见，依照有关社会的规范，这种联系或被承认，或不被承认。 所以，我们必须从本体论、经济、社会及心理等多方面去对待生物学事实。物种对女性的奴役以及对她各种能力的限制，都是极其重要的事实；女人的身体是她在世界上的处境的主要因素之一。但是她的身体不足以解释她是个女人。除了有意识的个体在社会中活动着的表现，没有任何真正活着的现实。生物学不可能回答我们的这个问题：为什么女人是他者？我们的任务是发现女人的本性在历史的整个过程中是怎样受影响的；我们很想搞清楚，人类是怎样对待人类女性的。