44 pages • 1 hour read

The Second Sex

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1949

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Volume I, Introduction

Volume I, Part 1: “Destiny”

Volume I, Part 2: “History”

Volume I, Part 3: “Myths”

Volume II, Introduction

Volume II, Part 1: “Formative Years”

Volume II, Part 2: “Situation”

Volume II, Part 3: “Justifications”

Volume II, Part 4: “Toward Liberation”

Conclusion

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Key Figures

Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was born to a middle-class family in Paris. Her father Georges was a lawyer who encouraged her intellectual and artistic interests, while her mother Françoise was a conservative Catholic. Despite her mother’s efforts to encourage Simone to embrace religion, Simone became an atheist at an early age. After finishing a master’s thesis in philosophy at the Sorbonne, Beauvoir taught at a lycée (high school) and later supported herself as a full-time writer.

Beauvoir never identified as a philosopher. She was a prolific writer in both non-fiction and fiction. Her works include the novels All Men Are Mortal (1946) and The Mandarins (1954) and the philosophical work Pyrrhus and Cineas (1944). Never marrying, she had an open relationship with her partner, the famous existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), and adopted a daughter, Sylvie Le Bon-de Beauvoir.

Friedrich Engels

Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) was a philosopher, historian, and early theorist of the Communist movement. He co-wrote many books and essays with Karl Marx, most notably The Communist Manifesto (1848). Like Marx, Engels promoted the idea of historical materialism, which argues that history is driven by the conflict between economic classes.

Beauvoir engages with Engels’s book The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State (1884). In it, Engels suggested that the development of private property in history brought about the subordination of women within the structure of the family. Beauvoir agrees that the rise of private property was a major turning point in the history of gender roles. However, she also criticizes Engels for assuming the development of private property and bronze tools inevitably led to women’s subordination. Instead, Beauvoir suggests Engels’s theory “is still not enough to explain her oppression”; In fact, Beauvoir argues it was possible that the outcome of these early economic changes might have involved a more equitable relationship between women and men (65-66).

Sigmund Freud

Another major intellectual whose contributions Beauvoir addresses is Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). An Austrian neurologist, Freud developed psychoanalysis as a method for treating mental illness. Notably, Freud proposed the theory that girls envied boys over their genitalia. While Beauvoir acknowledges the influence of psychoanalysis, she believes that, like Engels, Freud oversimplifies matters. Specifically, Beauvoir argues that “for Freud all behavior is driven by desire…” (53).