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Beauvoir The Second Sex Summary

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After fifty-five years, we look back at the year 1963 that signaled the beginning of the feminist movement. The feminist movement lead to many changes in the society for women, such as reproductive rights, maternity leave, equal pay, women’s suffrage and a decrease in domestic violence, sexual violence and sexual harassment. All these changes have fallen under the label of feminism and the feminist movement. In response to this, author Simone de Beauvoir, who was a journalist and philosopher talks about the “Eternal Feminine” in her book, “The Second Sex.” “The Second Sex” is considered a pioneering work of the modern feminism movement because of how the author radically challenges political and existential theory. Yet, its most enduring impact is on how women understand themselves, their relationships, their place in society, and the construction of gender. Many of the works of Simone De Beauvoir has continued to spark the interest of many readers today because of her passage on "Woman: Myth and Reality,” in her book “The Second Sex.” The passage talks about the myth of woman and how women become said to be mysterious relating to the eternal …show more content…

According to Simone de Beauvoir, this was just another way for men to control women. Woman is not born fully formed; she is gradually shaped by her upbringing. Biology does not determine what makes a woman a woman, a woman learns her role from man and others in society. Women are taught what they’re supposed to be in life, what kind of roles they can or can’t perform in virtue of being of "the second sex." Today we might express this idea using the distinction between sex and gender, where one’s sex is just a biological fact, but one’s gender identity is socially

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