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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
informative
slow-paced
it was a long time coming but i’ve conquered this place. an important collection of essays essential to understanding a part of feminism, especially in discussion on gender and the patriarchal system placed upon us.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
“And if it is so difficult to say anything specific about her, that is because man seeks the whole of himself in her and because she is All. She is All, that is, on the plane of the inessential; she is the Other. And, as the other, she is other than herself, other than what is expected of her. Being all, she is never quite this which she should be; she is everlasting deception, the very deception of that exists which is never successfully attained nor fully reconciled with the totality of existents.”
I wanted to sit with this for a few days before putting pen to paper with how this book made me feel. Growing up with a strong matriarchal family and being told I can do anything I set my heart out to do and to settle for nothing less than I deserve, this book was deeply not relatable. I felt like this was the first feminist rage bate. The author continuously compared women to parasites, praying mantis and even called women “the gutter of the palace.” She claimed our only freedom is choosing your prison in marriage and that adultery is one of the only ways to be empowered in this relationship. Woman possess qualities differing from men that make us extraordinary, instead of leaning into these differences as a way of empowerment, she used those same qualities to belittle and degrade women as a whole and made me question if she really deeply hated women.
I wanted to sit with this for a few days before putting pen to paper with how this book made me feel. Growing up with a strong matriarchal family and being told I can do anything I set my heart out to do and to settle for nothing less than I deserve, this book was deeply not relatable. I felt like this was the first feminist rage bate. The author continuously compared women to parasites, praying mantis and even called women “the gutter of the palace.” She claimed our only freedom is choosing your prison in marriage and that adultery is one of the only ways to be empowered in this relationship. Woman possess qualities differing from men that make us extraordinary, instead of leaning into these differences as a way of empowerment, she used those same qualities to belittle and degrade women as a whole and made me question if she really deeply hated women.
A classic, a foundational book in the canon on the feminist movement. Beauvoir’s reasoning is piercing, clear and ahead of her time. As relevant today as it was back then in light of the battle women still face in our contemporary society to be their full selves. The Blinkist version is a great summary.
I'm reading the new translation that was released by Vintage on May 3rd 2011. I LOVE IT!!!!