Simone de Beauvoir: who she was and her contributions to feminism

Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a writer, philosopher, and teacher, considered one of the pioneers of feminism.

But what did her feminist philosophy consist of? What was her relationship with existentialism and Jean Paul Sartre? What were her contributions to her contemporary thought?

1. Pioneer of feminist philosophy

Simone de Beauvoir was the first to take woman as the center of her philosophical questioning. Although philosophy had previously addressed the issue of the feminine, it was just one more element framed in other theories.

In this way, her great contribution to philosophy, as the doctor of philosophy, Linda Zerilli points out, was the articulation of a new philosophical problem: what is a woman?

In her theory, the problem of women is approached from the points of view:

• Ontological: What is a woman?
• Existentialist: What does it mean to be a woman?
• Phenomenological: What does it mean to live the experience of being a woman?

This has been the starting point for theories of sex and gender.

2. The second sex is a foundational work of feminism

Your book The second sex raised the foundations of feminist philosophy and theories of sex and gender.

At the time, the book was so controversial that the Vatican added it to the list of prohibited books. As stated in the introduction to the English translation of the book:

The second sex it was a daring Promethean act — a robbery of the Olympic fire — from which there was no return. It is not the last word on "the woman's problem," of which, Beauvoir wrote, "she has always been a problem of man ", but it marks the place in history where an enlightenment begins (Judith Thurman).

The book, published in 1947, is considered a foundational text in feminist philosophy. It has been compared to a bible, since its argument, as in Genesis, starts from a "fall" in knowledge: Simone de Beauvoir tells how, just one day old, her aunt, who went to visit her in the hospital, found a tag on her crib that read "It's! a girl!". On the crib next to it, the label said "I am a boy!"

There they lay, innocent of a distinction (between object woman and subject man) that would mark their destinies (Judith Thurman).

This distinction between woman-object and man-subject heralds the lack of reciprocity between these two genders and serves as an introduction to her existentialist feminism.

Other articles on feminism that may interest you:

• Feminism: most representative characteristics, works and authors
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3. She founds existential feminism

Simone de Beauvoir raises the notions of existentialist feminism taking as previous concepts Hegel's notion of "otherness"; the statement that existence precedes essence, among others.

For existentialism, the human being is able to build and decide; he is not a predetermined being, but constructs his own destiny.

Under this reasoning, de Beauvoir proposes to question the concept of woman. It is not a concept already given, as Socrates assumes in The Republic of Plato. She argues that the existential ontological distinction between the being of man and woman can be determined, but not reduced to the facticities of sex. She argues, then, if sex cannot define being a woman, then what defines it?

The thinker investigates the facts and myths surrounding the construction of the concept of woman, from the biological, scientific, psychoanalytic, materialistic, historical, literary and anthropological.

Based on these questions, she argues that the concept of the "feminine", with which women have been identified, is a social construction and, therefore, is independent of her "essence". Under this argumentative framework he formulates his most famous phrase:

You are not born a woman, you become one.

4. Contributions to gender studies and society

Although the work of the philosopher has indirectly influenced the political and social changes that feminism has achieved in the world, (right to work, pleasure, autonomy, voting, equal pay, etc.), as Thurman points out, its great contribution has been the change in collective identity, which has been indispensable for the movement feminist.

His proposals have served as the basis for proposing a separation, or, at least, a questioning, between gender and sex, which has been used by current gender theories.

On the other hand, Simone de Beauvoir was one of the first to candidly express an ambivalent attitude towards the femininity that expresses the complexity that being a woman entails and that can be shared by the community LGBT:

The prospect of her has broken the loneliness of millions in the world, who thought they were the only ones to have fears, transgressions, fantasies and desires that fed her ambivalence towards the feminine, or that this was an aberration (Judith Thurman).

You may also like Existentialism: characteristics, authors and works.

5. Criticism of existential feminism

Simone de Beauvoir's most popular phrase: "You are not born a woman, you become one", has been criticized by modern feminist theorists.

As Thurman points out in his introduction to the book The second sex, The most recent research in the social sciences and biology supports the argument that some sex differences are innate, and not circumstantial (not just the most obvious ones).

In addition, many have rejected the negative view that Beauvoir presents on fertility and the intention to homogenize humanity that they attribute to him.

Modern feminism posits that what has previously been perceived as the "otherness" of women, —as a social construction that was imposed on him - must be celebrated and cultivated as a source of self-knowledge and expression. It is from these differences that patriarchal institutions must be questioned and criticized.

6. Relationship and influences of Jean-Paul Sartre

The development of Sartrean existentialism laid the philosophical foundations for her existentialist feminism. But perhaps Simone de Beauvoir is best known for her controversial open relationship with Jean-Paul Sartre.

Beauvoir has written a series of autobiographical texts in which she reflects on her relationship with Sartre and her experience as a bisexual woman in an open relationship. Some of them are The fullness of life (1963) and End of accounts (1972).

As a curious fact, in a lecture given at Harvard by de Beauvoir and Annie Cohen-Solal, Sartre's biographer, Annie noted that all the questions about Sartre corresponded to her philosophy, while all the questions directed by Beauvoir corresponded to her life personal.

See also 7 essential works of Jean-Paul Sarte.

7. Biography and works of Simone de Beauvoir

She was born in Paris in 1908 in a bourgeois family. She studied Mathematics at the Institut Catholique de Paris and Literature and Languages ​​at the Institut Sainte-Marie. She later studied Philosophy at the Sorbonne and was the ninth woman to obtain a higher education degree from this institution.

She met Jean-Paul Sartre at the École Normale Supérieure while they were both preparing for their exams national classification of students, in which she obtained second place (the first was obtained by Sartre). Sartre and de Beauvoir never married and had an open relationship.

Her most celebrated novel is Mandarins, with which she obtained the Prize Goncourt in 1954.

Her best known philosophy books are Pyrrhus et Cinéas (1944); For a moral of ambiguity (1947); which deal with existential ethics, and The second sex (1949), the cuel is considered a foundational text in gender theory.

Works by Simone de Beauvoir

These are some of the most recognized works of the writer.

Novels

• The guest
• The blood of the others
• All men are mortal
• Mandarins
• The beautiful pictures
• The broken woman
• When the spiritual predominates

essays

• For a moral of ambiguity
• Existentialism and the wisdom of the peoples
• The second sex
• The political thought of the right
• Old age