Anonymity and Feminist Identity

Anonymity is a condition that both intrigues and terrifies us. Such emotions reflect historical inequities of power as well as the limits of human cognition and imagination. How do they affect women’s relationships at the emotional, philosophical, and political level? How might they inflect women’s responses to bullying, economic and academic competition, and even philosophical teaching and writing? Laura Hengehold uses Simone de Beauvoir’s novels and philosophical texts to provide insights into women’s hopes and fears regarding anonymity, while also acknowledging their desire to be recognized in a definitive sense as these particular human beings. In an age of rapidly changing identification technologies, Beauvoir’s works turn our attention to women’s ongoing struggles to individuate from one another and from men, in defiance of the presuppositions that resources and attention are scarce goods.