Known typically for her association with Jean Paul
Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir exerted an enduring influence upon modern day
feminism. "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman" is the primal
theme in The Second Sex. Some may not deem
her a major philosopher, but to humanists, socialists and Marxists, she is an
original thinker. Philippe Knab deduces that in the Second Sex,
“firstly, she put forward a series of empirical claims about women as the
Other, that is, about what the role gender played in her society. Secondly, she puts forward a philosophical
argument for why sexism is wrong.
Clearly, the validity of the empirical part of the argument depends on
one's historical cultural background.
Some contemporary readers might feel inclined to discard Beauvoir’s
feminism altogether because they do not recognize themselves or their society in
her argument.
Read the entire essay from the Solitary Purdah archives
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