The Second Sex

By Simone De Beauvoir

The essential masterwork that has provoked and inspired generations of men and women. “From Eve’s apple to Virginia Woolf’s room of her own, Beauvoir’s treatise remains an essential rallying point, urging self-sufficiency and offering the fruit of knowledge.” —Vogue

This unabridged edition reinstates significant portions of the original French text that were cut in the first English translation. Vital and groundbreaking, Beauvoir’s pioneering and impressive text remains as pertinent today as when it was first published, and will continue to provoke and inspire generations of men and women to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9780307814531

Simone De Beauvoir

French Existentialist philosopher, intellectual, and social theorist Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986) was best known for her writings on Existentialist ethics and feminist Existentialism, as well as for her infamous polyamorous relationship with fellow French Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre. World-renowned for her metaphysical novels She Came to Stay and The Mandarins, de Beauvoir also wrote a number of essays on philosophy, politics, and social issues. Her diverse writings also include biographies, as well as her four-volume autobiography, made up of Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter, The Prime of Life, Force of Circumstance, and All Said and Done. In addition to her philosophical writing, de Beauvoir was an ardent feminist, her most famous philosophical work being The Second Sex, which is consistently referenced in the study of feminism.

Reviews for The Second Sex

[katie_lou-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A life changing book for me. Read and discussed it for my Soc III class at school, and the strength and passion of De Beauvoir's arguments led to my signing up for a feminist theories class the following semester. Fascinating, compelling, and definitely deserving of Great Books stature.

[experimentalis_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

a defining book, worth reading again and again, and aging very well

[hadriantheblind · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very incisive stuff. Although some of the biological tracts are slightly outdated, the attacks on past social thinking and psychoanalytic theory are very prescient. Societal influences as a role on psychology. Women as the 'great other', submitted to contradictory insults and demeaning conditions.

A very powerful and scathing book.

[beholderess · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A powerful and groundbreaking book on feminism. To me it's main value lies in defining the relationship between biology and social norms, and how biology definitely influences social norms but in no way excuses them.

[bethie9paige · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

FINALLY, I finished it. This book seemed to take forever and I'm so glad I finished it. I was pretty much skim reading it by the end of it.
It was a really interesting book and that's why I gave it 4/5 stars. The writing was really good and I was really captivated in the subject. It seemed to ramble on but I think that is just because it had so much to cover. I'm not really one for non-fiction so that is why to took me so long to read and why it felt tedious.
Overall, really interesting book.

[zohrab_5 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The classic manifesto of the liberated woman, this book explores every facet of a woman's life.

[sweetmarie9 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book but a bad translation. The historian who originally translated TSS into English obviously knew less about existentialism than I (and I know very little). He also cut out quite a bit of information about women in history (which is mentioned in the introduction to the Vintage edition). Never fear, though; I have it on good authority from a de Beauvoir scholar that a new translation is in the works and should be out in a few years. The people who are working on it are knowledgeable in philosophy as well as women's history. I do highly recommend this book and for the time being, this edition is all we have (unless you can read French), but get ready to throw away your current copy for a more complete and accurate translation of The Second Sex sometime soon.

[zoes_human · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you are a woman, love a woman, know a woman, or just happen to think that over half the population of the planet might be worth learning about, you should read this book.Doubtless, you won't agree with everything she says (I'd be surprised if you did, she has some controversial social and philosophical beliefs); however, it is a thorough examination of the physical, psychological, historical, and social development of women and "femininity." While some of it is quite dated (sadly, not as much as I'd like), it is still quite relevant.Ultimately, reading this gives you both a historical perspective of how far we've come and inspires insightful thought on what we still need to do. I agree wholeheartedly with the anonymous commentator who scribbled in pencil on the copyright page of this library book: "Beauvior compels us, as women, to delve further than the surface of simple womankind."

[brakketh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Powerful and well argued book.

[pathogenik-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book back in 2012. I have used this book as a reference in essays for my English and Sociology classes when I was an undergraduate student in Education. It is insightful on many accounts since it tells about how things used to be - and some continue to be - for women. Back when I picked it up, I was quite into feminism and all for sticking it to the man etc... The more I learned about De Beauvoir, the less I was impressed by her. I am no fan of her unhealthy relationship with Sartre, too à-la-Osho for my taste. But that is besides the point. Back to this book, some passages were a bit like a rant, so I skimmed through and felt annoyed. This quote is one that I absolutely love:
'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.'