THE

SECOND
SEX INTRODUCTION
SIMONE DE
BEAUVOIR
 Second Sex written in 1949

By Simone de Beauvoir a French intellectual, writer and existentialist

thinker

Did not consider herself a philosopher; additionally wrote novels, essays,

HISTORICAL
and autobiographies

CONTEXT
Also (ironically) known for lifelong relationship with Jean Paul Sartre

Earned a BA in mathematics and philosophy in 1925, continued to study

mathematics at Institut Catholique de Paris as well as literature/languages
at the Institut Sainte-Marie

She then studied philosophy at Sorbonne, where she was the ninth woman
to receive a degree from Sorbonne
LE DEUXIÉME SEXE

• FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1949

• EXISTENTIAL WORK TRANSLATING “EXISTENCE PRECEDES
ESSENCE” INTO THE FEMINIST PHRASE: “ONE IS NOT BORN BUT
BECOMES A WOMAN”
• READ AS THE FIRST ARTICULATION OF THE SEX-GENDER
DISTINCTION
• DISTINCTION BETWEEN BIOLOGICAL SEX AND THE SOCIAL AND
HISTORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER
• ESTABLISHES THE FUNDAMENTAL SOURCE OF WOMAN’S
OPPRESSION AS FEMININITIES HISTORICAL AND SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTION AS THE QUINTESSENTIAL “OTHER”
Male: Female: DUALITY OF THE SEXES
Rationality Body
Culture Nature
Mind, soul, Emotions • WITHIN THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY:
psyche Role: bear • MALE IS THE RATIONAL BEING, THE
Role: govern and rear FEMALE DEVIATES FROM THE MALE

family, social, children • THOMAS AQUINAS: “THE FEMALE IS

AN IMPERFECT MALE”
and political
realms TRADITIONAL UNDERSTANDING:
 ESSENTIALISM OF TRADITIONAL DUALITY OF
THE SEXES

• “ESSENCE PRECEDES EXISTENCE”

• WHERE DOES THE ESSENCE OF “WOMAN” COME FROM?
• TWO PERSPECTIVES
• FEMALE EMBODIMENT/ANATOMY
• “THE ETERNAL FEMININE”
• ANATOMY PREDESTINES WOMEN AND MEN TO FULFILL CERTAIN ROLES
• WOMEN ARE THUS “ESSENTIALLY” DIFFERENT FROM MEN
• WOMEN’S ESSENCE = WOMEN HAVE CERTAIN ATTRIBUTES, ALL WOMEN EVERYWHERE AND AT
EVERYTIME
 FEMALE EMBODIMENT

• TRADITIONAL DUALISTIC THEORIES OF SEXUAL DIFFERENCE

• BIOLOGICAL ESSENTIALISM
• EX. WOMAN ARE ESSENTIALLY DIFFERENT FROM MEN DUE TO THEIR HORMONES
• BIOLOGICAL BASIS THAT MAKES THEM COGNITIVELY AND MORALLY
DIFFERENT FROM MEN
• EXAMPLES INCLUDE: LESS RATIONAL, LESS MORALLY ACCOUNTABLE, LESS
MATURE, MORE EMOTIONAL
THE ETERNAL FEMININE

Usually posed as criticism

Mythic depiction of Comparison to “Black
of women here and now in
gender expectations soul” and the “Jewish
favor of women in the past
outside of time character” (4)
or in other places
WHERE DOES ”WOMAN” COME FROM?

Concept of ”woman” is real, but not due to essence

To deny the reality is an “inauthentic flight” (4)

Femininity as Historical/Social Situation

What did Sartre say about existential situations? What is one’s situation?
SEX AND GENDER

Distinction avoids essentialism

Sex is one’s biological or anatomical sex

Gender has to do with the social and historical determinates of the difference between men and women

This distinction is based on the idea of social construction of the differences between men and women

Beauvoir: “One is not born, but becomes a woman”

 SEXUAL DIFFERENCE
• DIFFERENT ROOTS TO SEXUAL IDENTITY:
• CULTURAL (DETERMINED BY CULTURE)
• SOCIAL (PRODUCED BY SOCIETY)
• DISCURSIVE (PRODUCED BY DISCOURSE)
• VOLITIONAL (FREE CHOICE)
• BODILY

• BEAUVOIR’S THESIS: BEING A MAN OR A WOMAN DETERMINES THE LIFE OF US ALL

 WHAT ASPECTS OF LIFE ARE DETERMINED BY
SEXUAL IDENTITY?

• MEN HAVE BETTER CHANCES BY HAVING A BETTER POSITION OF POWER

• WOMEN HAVE LESS POWER IN POLITICS AND SOCIETY
• WOMEN HAVE LESS ACCESS TO FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE AND RESOURCES
• WOMEN ARE NOT AS “FREE,” ARE MORE LIKELY TO LIVE IN BAD FAITH, OR
HAVE MORE OBSTACLES FROM AUTHENTICITY
• “HE IS SUBJECT; HE IS ABSOLUTE. SHE
IS THE OTHER” (6).
• CATEGORY OF ”OTHER” OR “ALTERITY”
ORIGINATES WITH CONSCIOUSNESS
ITSELF.
• “…A FUNDAMENTAL HOSTILITY TO
ANY OTHER CONSCIOUSNESS IS FOUND
IN CONSCIOUSNESS ITSELF AS THE
ESSENTIAL AND SETS UP THE OTHER AS
WOMEN AS
“OTHER”
INESSENTIAL, AS THE OBJECT” (7).
• SELF AND OTHER
• WE AND OTHER
• PROBLEM:
• WOMEN NEVER/RECENTLY
BECAME A “WE” TO SET UP AS THE
ESSENTIAL
FIRST AND SECOND SEX

To be the second sex implies that woman is seen as ”the sex” or the
”essentially sexed being”(6)

Emphasis on woman’s body and sexuality

The male is seen as the one, as “man”, and through cognitive capacities

The female is other and lesser

POSITIVE, NEUTER, AND NEGATIVE

Man is the positive: gains qualities for being man

Man is neuter: to be man is to human

Woman is the negative

• Defined by a lack of qualities
REVIEW

Essentialism vs. existentialism with relation to femininity vs. masculinity

Sex vs. gender

Category of “Other”

The “Second Sex”

Positive, neutral, and negative

 How does one become a woman according to de Beauvoir? What is the role of biological or
anatomical destiny in this process?

Have women become a “we” today? What obstacles exist to women organizing themselves
into a political group for the purpose of resisting subordination?  Do the obstacles originate in

QUESTIONS
women's own thinking, or are they imposed on women from the outside?  What's de
Beauvoir¹s position on this?  What's yours?

: De Beauvoir writes: "To decline to be the Other, to refuse to be a party to the deal, this would
be for women to renounce all the advantages conferred upon them... Indeed, along with the
ethical urge of each individual to affirm his subjective existence, there is also the temptation to
forego liberty and become a thing" (p. 9).  What does this mean?  Do you agree/disagree?

In what sense can we understand this text as still relevant and in what sense is this text
outdated?