Will I love The Second Sex?

Don’t say you’re not a feminist until you’ve read this brilliant book. 

70 years ago, Simone de Beauvoir kick-started the gender revolution with her iconic, insightful analysis of how men perceive and relate to women and vice versa.

The book is, however, not written in a strident or angry style but hopeful–mostly. Indeed, not until 30 years after publication did de Beauvoir personally adopt the feminist label, even though she managed to write what is arguably the greatest feminist text ever. De Beauvoir aimed to empower women by waking them up to the realities of being the (inferior) ‘Other’ to… show more.

What? Another book written in the 1900s? But bear with me, friends. There’s a reason de Beauvoir’s known as the “Mother of Modern Feminism” (and life partner of “Father of Existentialism” Jean-Paul Sartre, whom she’s buried alongside though they never actually had kids together or even shared a home).

Just as a film can shock us to tears when we recognize ourselves or those we love in it, de Beauvoir’s classic showed me some unsavory parts of myself. 

The Second Sex, published in 1949, is a forerunner of numerous books about the female psyche and experience; de Beauvoir inspired the next generation of feminist authors.

As a young woman it made me sit up and learn about historical, cultural, psychological, and political attitudes toward girls and women, and how those had always moulded females to fit stereotypes, and meet the expectations of their emotional, social, and familial connections.

It is presented in a very understandable way, that manoeuvers diverse parts into a comprehensible whole.  It changed my personal construct of myself as a woman and guided me to… show more.

I fell in love with The Second Sex almost 30 years ago after an inspiring philosophy teacher introduced me to it. I learn something every time I read it, and of all the books I have students read, it is the one that most thank me for assigning.

It revolutionized philosophy by presenting a deeply compelling feminist theory that engaged with many questions in the philosophy of sex and love. It also helped me tremendously as I was finding my own way as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. And though I now believe that The Second Sex is limited… show more.

This is a classic book. Originally published in 1949, French feminist thinker and political activist Simone De Beauvoir discusses the duality in society where man represents the essential ‘self’ while woman embodies the ‘other,’ inessential sex. De Beauvoir raised a clear voice against any form of oppression. She criticized the tendency of protecting women against their inner weakness. She criticized men for dictating to women what to do, and she also criticized women who accept their status as the ‘other’ in society and who are complacent towards men. 

When this book was first published in 1949 it was to outrage… show more.