The Second Sex

Beauvoir begins by noting that there has been an ongoing “quarrel over feminism” (3). This debate hinges on the idea that, in the modern era, women are no longer actual women. In Beauvoir’s own time, the growing access of women to professional careers and economic independence is driving this argument. As Beauvoir notes, “[W]e are told, ‘femininity is in jeopardy’” (3). Beauvoir suggests that women cannot just be born female; they must also act feminine.

Modern science also drives this uncertainty about womanhood and femininity. As Beauvoir notes, social and scientific beliefs in her own time undermined the belief in “immutably determined entities that define given characteristics like those of the woman” (4). Thus, the idea that different groups and races have inborn traits has been undermined.

Here, Beauvoir introduces one of her core concepts. She argues women are “the Other,” in that “[s]he is determined and differentiated in relation to man, while he is not in relation to her; she is the inessential in front of the essential” (6). This implies that men and their experiences are considered the default for humanity. Women are viewed only in relation to men. As Beauvoir will later write, women are valued in terms of what they offer men—as mothers, wives, lovers, or artistic inspirations.