The Second Sex: Simone De Beauvoir - Softcover

De Beauvoir, Simone

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099595737 ISBN 13: 9780099595731

Publisher: Vintage Classics, 2015

Synopsis

TRANSLATED BY CONSTANCE BORDE AND SHEILA MALOVANY-CHEVALLIER
ANNOTATED AND INTRODUCED BY MARTINE REID

'Everyone who cares about freedom and justice for women should read The Second Sex' Guardian

Simone de Beauvoir famously wrote, 'One is not born, but rather becomes, woman'. In this groundbreaking work of feminism she examines the limits of female freedom and explodes our deeply ingrained beliefs about femininity. Liberation, she argues, entails challenging traditional perceptions of the social relationship between the sexes and, crucially, in achieving economic independence.

Drawing on sociology, anthropology and biology, The Second Sex is as important and relevant today as when it was first published in 1949.

About this title

Review

In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir posed questions many men, and women, had yet to ponder when the book was released in 1953. "One wonders if women still exist, if they will always exist, whether or not it is desirable that they should..." she says in this comprehensive treatise on women. She weaves together history, philosophy, economics, biology and a host of other disciplines to show women's place in the world and to postulate on the power of sexuality. This is a powerful piece of writing in a time before "feminism" was even a phrase, much less a movement. --Christine Buttery

Review

"A masterpiece" (Vogue)

"Discovering The Second Sex was like an explosion in my skull, shattering illusions bred in a conventional fifties childhood...Re-reading the book now I realise how much of it is still entirely relevant, and that (despite advances) women are as much in need of liberation as ever" (Bel Mooney)

"De Beauvoir was not just a genius as a theorist. She dared to live it. Challenging conventional marriage and sexual practice, she used her own experience to explore the emotional costs of jealousy, attachment, monogamy, bohemianism, sexuality, of love" (Susie Orbach)

"A fine piece of work, a lucid translation" (Independent)

"A fresh, much expanded, more intelligible book which repays re-reading by adherents of the old version, and cries out for attention from young women who have not been exposed to this most powerful of feminist thinkers" (Irish Times)

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Classics
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0099595737
• ISBN 13: 9780099595731
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 864