We Are Not Born Submissive: How Patriarchy Shapes Women's Lives. Manon Garcia. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2021 (ISBN: 9780691201825)

Abstract

Garcia's We Are Not Born Submissive investigates the role of women's submission in the perpetuation of patriarchy. Garcia's argument focuses on 1) defining submission; 2) investigating the epistemological issues that stand in the way of understanding women's submission; 3) describing the lived experience of submission and its manifestations; and 4) examining the allure of submission for women. Garcia concludes by discussing the prospects for a future where women will no longer be tempted into submission.Garcia defines women's submission as a form of consent. In her words, it is the "decision to stay in a childlike situation, that is to say, to not actively pursue freedom" (188). In essence, it is a "passive attitude of not actively pursuing freedom" (188, my emphasis). As this definition evidences, submission poses a philosophical problem if we think of it as an active decision to embody a passive state. To resolve it, Garcia claims that submission is a way-to put things colloquially-of "going with the flow": submission has its material and psychological rewards, and consenting to submission enables one to benefit from them. In the case of women, the attitude of submissiveness manifests itself in beauty work, the focus on romantic love as a form of fulfillment, and the very structure of many heterosexual relationships.For Garcia, it is crucial for feminism to grapple with this phenomenon. If feminism consists in the project "to shine a light on women's oppression as women" and "to fight this oppression" (3), and if submission plays an integral role in the perpetuation of this oppression, then it behooves feminists to study it. According to her, little has been said about submission in feminist philosophy. With the exception of Simone de Beauvoir, we do not have good models for understanding women's submissiveness. Hence the importance for feminists to analyze this central aspect of women's lives.According to Garcia, feminists have not written sufficiently about submission out of fear of "adding grist to the conservatives' mill" (8). In other words, studying the prevalence of women's submission may lead us to think of women's submission as natural. By contrast, as the title of her book indicates, for her, "we are not born submissive." That is to say, women are socialized into consenting to their subordination. Garcia judges that writing about submission is a risk worth taking since submission is still predominant in women's lives.