For example, the phrases "two students and a woman" were arrested, "two students and a negro" were arrested or "two students and a dog" were arrested all imply subordination to the woman, the negro and the dog.
de Beauvoir believes the world is designed with man as the "subject" and "woman" as the object or man acts and woman is acted upon. The "subject" (man) is also known as the "one" and the "object" (woman) is also known as the "other". Women have been classified as the "other" or strangers to man, when they should be equals. The "other" is usually a term given by one group of people to another group of people of a different ethnicity, religion or social class. The "other" can only be described as not the "one". For example, if dog is the "one" then anything not dog is the "other". The "one" is the group of people who is observing the "other". For example the Spaniards considered them self's the "one" and Aztecs the "other" and vise versa. .
Creating the existence of the "other" is natural, however it is unnatural for a group to consciously label themselves as the "other". Why then have all women become the "other" regardless of ethnicity, religion, or social class? It starts with the days of Adam and Eve, when Eve is described as made from Adam. This is the first time when man looks at woman and she is part but not all of him. Man becomes the positive and woman becomes the negative.
Men and women need one another to produce offspring. Because one sex cannot reproduce on their own the relationship between the two should be 50/50. However that is not true women have always been subordinate to men. Usually when one group of people is dominant over another it is because of a historical event or social change. An example of this would be slavery in The United States of America. When slaves first arrived they were dependent on their masters for survival. Unlike women these Slaves were in the minority, but because enslavement was not all these slaves had known they still had memory of the freedom they once obtained.
