AI overview
"The Second Sex" is a foundational essay by French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir that examines how women have historically been defined and treated as secondary to men in society. The work matters because it challenged prevailing assumptions about gender and helped establish key ideas that became central to modern feminist thought.
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The Second Sex (French: Le Deuxième Sexe) is a 1949 book by the French existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, in which the author discusses the treatment of women in the present society as well as throughout all of history. Beauvoir researched and wrote the book in about 14 months between 1946 and 1949. She published the work in two volumes: Facts and Myths, and Lived Experience. Some chapters first appeared in the journal Les Temps modernes.
One of Beauvoir's best-known books, it is also one of the most controversial, even being banned by the Vatican. The Second Sex is regarded as a groundbreaking work of feminist philosophy, and as the starting inspiration point of second-wave feminism.