A review by rzh
Extracts From: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

challenging informative medium-paced

3.5

a degree of understanding is necessary when reading certain vintage feminist texts, like wollstonecraft or woolf, as is the case with de beauvoir, that they were writing in a very different world than today. perhaps even moreso the case with de beauvoir, who wrote not only from the 1950’s, but also from france, a country perhaps not known for its forward thinking policies around identity politics. with that said, i found the “introduction” section of the second sex incredible reading: funny at times, and an effortless blend of existentialist ideas and feminist principles. de beauvoir writes that the married man 
“…can convince himself that there is no longer a social hierarchy between the sexes and that on the whole, despite their differences, woman is equal. as he nevertheless recognises some points of inferiority - professional incapacity being the predominant one - he attributes them to nature. when he has an attitude of benevolence and partnership towards a woman, he applies the principle of abstract equality; and he does not posit the concrete inequality he recognises. but as soon as he clashes with her, the situation is reversed. he will apply the concrete inequality theme and will even allow himself to disavow abstract equality. this is how many men affirm, with quasi-good faith, that women are equal to men and have no demands to make, and at the same time, that women will never be equal to men and that their demands are in vain.”
i mean: wow!!! the part where she discusses how women are expected to be well dressed, keep a home, cook and clean AND maintain a career if she is to be deemed “equal” to a man, whereas the man is not given these excess responsibilities on top of his career, is BANG on and could have been written this year: as could her discussion of women who are well-dressed being seen as vain and superficial, and women who are not interested in clothes or makeup are seen as lazy & sloppy: that a woman’s natural featured are deemed to be unacceptable. so so eloquent and well examined, if the illustrations are perhaps too specific & therefore naturally a little dated. 
however, in the second chapter/extract, “the independent woman”, de beauvoir begins to lean on lazy stereotypes and anecdotal evidence which, though not entirely absent from the introduction, certainly gets a lot less convincing (especially when she starts slagging off the bronte sisters and jane austen… girl please…). her argument, that women artists are limited in their expression by their inability to experience the freedom of life as a man, is pertinent. what is not pertinent, however, is the idea that all women artists are inferior as a result. not it.
the conclusion picked back up again: 
“the fact is that men encounter more complicity in their woman companions than the oppressor usually finds in the oppressed, and in bad faith they use it as a pretext to declare the woman wanted the destiny they imposed on her” !!!
i was pleasantly surprised by de beauvoir’s assertion that gender roles are entirely manufactured: an idea perhaps not popular among feminists at the time who would perhaps be more of the view that gender is an innate biological facet. her conclusion: that men must be at the forefront of the fight for women’s liberation (as, indeed, they are at the forefront of everything else) is also excellently put. i thought that the chosen extracts and the length made de beauvoir accessible and easy to read: even if the gal loves a paragraph-long sentence every once in a while. 3/5 stars
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