Quotes from book
The Second Sex

Simone de BeauvoirOriginal title Le Deuxième Sexe (French, 1949)

The Second Sex is a 1949 book by the French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir, in which the author discusses the treatment of women throughout history. Beauvoir researched and wrote the book in about 14 months between 1946 and 1949. She published it in two volumes, Facts and Myths and Lived Experience . Some chapters first appeared in Les Temps modernes. One of Beauvoir's best-known books, The Second Sex is often regarded as a major work of feminist philosophy and the starting point of second-wave feminism.


Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo

“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex

On ne naît pas femme: on le devient.
Bk. 2, Pt.. 4, Ch. 1: Childhood, p. 267
Source: The Second Sex (1949)

Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo

“To "catch" a husband is an art; to "hold" him is a job.”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex

Bk. 2, part 5, Ch. 1: The Married Woman, p. 468
Source: The Second Sex (1949)

Simone de Beauvoir photo

“One is not born a genius, one becomes a genius; and the feminine situation has up to the present rendered this becoming practically impossible.”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex

Bk. I, Pt. 2, Ch. 8: Since the French Revolution: the Job and the Vote, p. 133
Source: The Second Sex (1949)

Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo

“The body is the instrument of our hold on the world.”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex

Source: The Second Sex

Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo

“All oppression creates a state of war”

Simone de Beauvoir book The Second Sex

Conclusion http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/de-beauvoir/2nd-sex/ch04.htm, p. 717 <br class="br">Source: The Second Sex (1949) <br class="br">Context: All oppression creates a state of war. And this is no exception. The existent who is regarded as inessential cannot fail to demand the re-establishment of her sovereignty.<br>Today the combat takes a different shape; instead of wishing to put man in a prison, woman endeavours to escape from one; she no longer seeks to drag him into the realms of immanence but to emerge, herself, into the light of transcendence.

Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo
Simone de Beauvoir photo

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