A review by noahbond
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

5.0

I’m ashamed it took me so long to read this seminal work, especially considering the influence it has had on second, third, and forth wave feminism. Simone de Beauvoir’s brilliance is without question, and the amount of research she put into the crafting of this work is outstanding—pulling on philosophy, religion, biology, psychology, economics, politics, literature. The idea of existential feminism, which I’ve seen referred to elsewhere and has been explained to me by many incredible women in my life, was illuminated in ways that had me reconsidering my own views as a feminist man, especially with regard to traditional gender norms and the role that women are supposed to play in society. Highly recommend for anyone trying to better understand the foundations of feminist ideology and the inner mechanisms of one of the most brilliant 20th century thinkers.

Note: It’s mad long, just a heads up.