Simone de Beauvoir
Philosopher and writer (1908 to 1986) whose The Second Sex (1949) argued that woman has been made the Other of man, and that femininity is produced by civilization rather than fate.
Simone de Beauvoir did not write this page.
We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.
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Their wordsNo biological, psychological, or economic fate determines the figure that the human female presents in society; it is civilization as a whole that produces this creature, intermediate between male and eunuch, which is described as feminine.
↗The Second Sex, translated by H. M. Parshley (Knopf, 1971 printing)archive.org All 5 from this book
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Their wordsHe is the Subject, he is the Absolute—she is the Other.
↗The Second Sex, translated by H. M. Parshley (Knopf, 1971 printing)archive.org All 5 from this book
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Their wordsThus humanity is male and man defines woman not in herself but as relative to him; she is not regarded as an autonomous being.
↗The Second Sex, translated by H. M. Parshley (Knopf, 1971 printing)archive.org All 5 from this book
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Their wordsRepresentation of the world, like the world itself, is the work of men; they describe it from their own point of view, which they confuse with absolute truth.
↗The Second Sex, translated by H. M. Parshley (Knopf, 1971 printing)archive.org All 5 from this book
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Our reading
Their wordsAll oppression creates a state of war.
↗The Second Sex, translated by H. M. Parshley (Knopf, 1971 printing)archive.org All 5 from this book