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Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
1908–1986· Philosopher· Politics, society & justice
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
French philosopher and novelist whose The Second Sex (1949) argued that womanhood is shaped by society, not fixed by nature.
See it on the Philosophy map →The idea
Idea: 'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.' The Second Sex argues that men have cast themselves as the norm and women as 'the Other', defined only in relation to men. Drawing on biology, history, myth and lived experience, she showed how this role is imposed, then internalized; freedom requires economic independence. The Ethics of Ambiguity (1947) gave existentialism an ethics. Main objection: some later feminists say she took male lives as the standard and undervalued women's own traditions.
Why it matters
The Second Sex became a founding text of modern feminism and introduced the distinction later called sex versus gender.
Legacy and sources
The Vatican put The Second Sex on its Index of Forbidden Books in 1956. Her memoirs, letters and novels, including The Mandarins (Prix Goncourt, 1954), document her life and thought.
Still debated
How many ideas credited to Sartre were really hers is debated; scholars such as Margaret Simons argue her influence on him was large.
Connections (4)
▸Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman prefigured Simone de Beauvoir, The Second SexMostly agreed
The connection
Wollstonecraft argued in 1792 that women seem inferior only because they are denied education and raised as ornaments. De Beauvoir pushed the insight much further: femininity itself is made by society, not nature. Both treated women's supposed 'nature' as a product of upbringing. The link is precedent more than direct borrowing.
When and how
Wollstonecraft wrote in London in 1792, during the French Revolution; de Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex in Paris in 1946–49, some 157 years later.
How sure are we?
Historians of feminism draw the parallel; de Beauvoir's own main sources were Hegel, Marx and existentialism, so direct influence was limited.
Debates and open questions
How new de Beauvoir's view was is debated: Wollstonecraft still saw motherhood as women's natural role, while de Beauvoir questioned any fixed 'feminine' nature.
▸Jean-Paul Sartre partnered with Simone de Beauvoir, The Second SexWell documented
The connection
Sartre and de Beauvoir met as students and formed a lifelong partnership, never marrying or living together, open to other lovers. They read and criticized each other's manuscripts. She pressed him on how one's situation limits freedom; his framework of freedom and 'the Other' supplied tools for The Second Sex.
When and how
Paris, 1929, while preparing for the agrégation, France's elite teaching exam; he placed first and she second. They were together until his death in 1980.
How we know
Their letters, her memoirs and diaries document the partnership; they are buried together in Montparnasse Cemetery.
Debates and open questions
Who influenced whom more is disputed: Kate and Edward Fullbrook argue key ideas of Being and Nothingness first appeared in her novel She Came to Stay (1943).
▸Existentialism was applied to gender by Simone de Beauvoir, The Second SexWell documented
The connection
De Beauvoir applied existentialism's core claim, that we have no fixed essence at birth, to women. If existence precedes essence, then 'woman' is not a natural destiny but a situation made by society. The existentialist idea of 'the Other' explained how men cast women as secondary, and existential freedom pointed toward liberation.
When and how
The Second Sex, published by Gallimard in Paris in two volumes in 1949; it reportedly sold 22,000 copies in its first week.
How we know
The book frames itself in existentialist terms; its introduction says its perspective is 'that of existentialist ethics'.
Debates and open questions
Older readings saw her as applying Sartre's ideas; many scholars now argue she reshaped existentialism by stressing the body, history and social situation.
▸Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex paved the way for The ethics of care (Gilligan, Noddings)Mostly agreed
The connection
The Second Sex showed that ideas presented as universal were often written from men's point of view. That opened philosophy to women's experience as a subject. Care ethicists took up the challenge, arguing that traditional moral theory ignored caregiving work long done by women, such as raising children and nursing.
When and how
The Second Sex (Paris, 1949; English 1953) fed 1960s–70s feminist thought in the United States, from which Gilligan (1982) and Noddings (1984) emerged.
How sure are we?
Historians of feminist philosophy trace the line, but care ethicists cite de Beauvoir less than one might expect, so the influence is broad and indirect.
Debates and open questions
De Beauvoir warned that roles as mothers and carers were imposed on women; some feminists fear care ethics reinforces exactly that, so the link involves real tension.