The Second Sex

Beauvoir argues that, in old age, women are again negatively impacted by their reproductive biology. Men get to grow old gradually. As for women, their transitions into adulthood and then old age are marked by sudden biological changes like puberty and menopause. Further, given that women rely on their physical appearance more than men, aging is often more difficult for them. Women are forced to resort to the imaginary, to younger male lovers, or to religion.

Eventually, an older woman “agrees to become old” (626). By doing so, Beauvoir writes, “she finally discovers her freedom” (627). However, by then, “she can do nothing more with it” (627). As for their families, elderly women pin their hopes on their sons or attempt to relive their lives through their daughters. This kind of mindset leads women to resent or develop ambivalent feelings toward their daughters-in-law and even their own grandchildren.

If an older woman does not have children, she seeks out surrogates. Overall, older women, freed from the drudgery of raising children and doing housework, must take on hobbies like knitting and embroidery. Here, Beauvoir criticizes older women, especially women from the United States, for adapting projects that have no definitive end goal. For example, American women read “books […] only intended to please, and worse to please idle women who need escape” (635). Otherwise, women organize activist coalitions against social ills like sex work, alcohol, and pornography. However, Beauvoir points out that “they do not understand that a purely negative effort is doomed to be unsuccessful…” (636).

Instead, Beauvoir urges older women to organize efforts that would benefit women as a collective. Most importantly, these campaigns should have definitive and positive objectives. One example is the campaign at the turn of the 20th century toward giving women the right to vote.

Despite their close friendships and activist organizations, Beauvoir argues that women have never been closed off from the broader male-dominated society. Even though people traditionally speak of feminine and masculine worlds, Beauvoir writes, “women have never formed an autonomous and closed society; they are integrated into the group governed by males…” (638). While women have attempted to form what Beauvoir describes as a feminine “counter-universe,” it is still framed within the “masculine universe” (638).

Women themselves uphold and defend the “masculine world” (640) and have been conditioned to accept their helplessness. Beauvoir cites the example of the remains of women found in the Roman ruins of Pompeii, where many of the remains show women praying while the remains of the men suggest they tried to escape. For Beauvoir, this suggests women “know they are powerless against things: volcanoes, policemen, employers, or men” (642).

One impact of this thorough indoctrination into subordination to masculinity is that women fulfill the negative stereotypes of them. Beauvoir claims if women are more inclined to be sensual to men, it is because the world often leaves women nothing better to do: “She often seems lazy, indolent; but the occupations that are offered her are as useless as the pure flowing of time; if she is talkative or a scribbler, it is to while away her time: she substitutes words for impossible acts” (644). Thus, in Beauvoir’s view, the treatment of women creates a feedback loop, where women are pushed to adopt negative, stereotyped behaviors to navigate a male-dominated society.

There are few ways for women to escape this situation, according to Beauvoir. Suicide is rarer for women than men. Women sometimes resort to physical violence, but generally they engage in what Beauvoir describes as “symbolic outbursts” (648). Usually, however, resistance emerges in the form of the “famous ‘contrariness’ for which she is often criticized…she refuses to play the game because she knows the dice are loaded” (650-51). Otherwise, women turn to religion or culture and art.

However, Beauvoir argues that generally women respond to their situation by making themselves the Other. It is difficult for women to resist men because their own attitudes toward men is complicated, with men being both the brutal tyrant and innocent child. To escape this cycle, Beauvoir returns to the idea of collective action, which must have concrete objectives. She adds that such activism must focus on improving and expanding economic and professional opportunities for women.