“The Importance of Being Man: An Introduction to the Libertine Ideology"

In this paper, I will examine the libertine ethos of the Re storation, a period of time characterized by an atmosphere in which promiscuity and extravagance became the norm. This ideology was based on individual liberty, hedonism and the gratification of one’s senses. In order to show how libertinism contributed to develop male chauvinism, I will focus on how the male ideology which reduced woman to an object, a passive body, was fought by the lady cavaliers who became the active other. As Derrida argued men need to recognize woman’s subjectivity in order to exist.