#The Second Sex

[funeral]

The little girl’s sense of secrecy that developed at prepuberty only grows in importance. She closes herself up in fierce solitude: she refuses to reveal to those around her the hidden self that she considers to be her real self and that is in fact an imaginary character: she plays at being a dancer like Tolstoy’s Natasha, or a saint like Marie Leneru, or simply the singular wonder that is herself. There is still an enormous difference between this heroine and the objective face that her parents and friends recognize in her. She is also convinced that she is misunderstood: her relationship with herself becomes even more passionate: she becomes intoxicated with her isolation, feels different, superior, exceptional: she promises that the future will take revenge on the mediocrity of her present life. From this narrow and petty existence she escapes by dreams.

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

[lets-get-lit]

No one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or scornful, than the man who is anxious about his virility.

- Simone de Beauvoir , The Second Sex

[thediaryofarevolutionist]

-Simone de beauvoir „The second sex“

[literatureaesthetic]

found a used copy of 'the second sex' for a pound (absolute STEAL) 💸 it's currently the only exception to my "one edition per book" rule

[cinematic-literature]

Dating Amber (2020) by David Freyne

Book title: The Second Sex (Le Deuxième Sexe in French; 1949) by Simone de Beauvoir

Submitted by @ciana86

[cyborgghost]

Just finished the Second Sex by Beauvoir and there's so many ideas from the book that are explored in RGU, especially when it talks about the rejection of femininity in childhood, lesbianism and how women have been historically kept from achieving transcendental things (in Utena's case, "something eternal") and so they search it vicariously through the men in their lives (Utena looking for his prince), ultimately losing their personhood and becoming an object or "the other", even in their own eyes (in the end all girls are like the rose bride)

The book is outdated in many ways but it's still a great read!

[philosophybits]

When an individual (or a group of individuals) is kept in a situation of inferiority, the fact is that he is inferior... Yes, women on the whole are today inferior to men; that is, their situation affords them fewer possibilities. The question is: should that state of affairs continue?

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

[birdydreamer]

No one is more arrogant towards women, more aggressive or more disdainful, than a man anxious about his own virility. Those who are not threatened by their fellow men are far more likely to recognise woman as a counterpart.

- The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir

[maaarine]

The Second Sex (Simone de Beauvoir, 1949)

"Some men feel threatened by women’s competition.

In Hebdo-Latin the other day, a student declared: “Every woman student who takes a position as a doctor or lawyer is stealing a place from us.”

That student never questioned his rights over this world.

Economic interests are not the only ones in play.

One of the benefits that oppression secures for the oppressor is that the humblest among them feels superior: in the United States a “poor white” from the South can console himself for not being a “dirty nigger”; and more prosperous whites cleverly exploit this pride.

Likewise, the most mediocre of males believes himself a demigod next to women. (…)

For all those suffering from an inferiority complex, this is a miraculous liniment; no one is more arrogant toward women, more aggressive or more disdainful, than a man anxious about his own virility.

Those who are not threatened by their fellow men are far more likely to recognize woman as a counterpart; but even for them the myth of the Woman, of the Other, remains precious for many reasons;

they can hardly be blamed for not wanting to lightheartedly sacrifice all the benefits they derive from the myth: they know what they lose by relinquishing the woman of their dreams, but they do not know what the woman of tomorrow will bring them."

[funeral]

[Simone de Beauvoir] describes the definitive thrill and sorrow of female adolescence—the realization that your body, and what people will demand of it, will determine your adult life. “If the young girl at about this stage frequently develops a neurotic condition,” de Beauvoir writes, “it is because she feels defenseless before a dull fatality that condemns her to unimaginable trials; her femininity means in her eyes sickness and suffering and death, and she is obsessed with this fate.”

Jia Tolentino, Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion

[ssontag]

The Second Sex (1941), Simone de Beauvoir

[thediaryofarevolutionist]

- Simone de Beauvoir „the second sex“

She is literally describing me

[literatureaesthetic]

october '23 favs:

the second sex — it only took me 5 months, but i finally finished reading the feminist bible, and it was worth every second. i genuinely believe this is required reading for everyone!!

the banshees of inisherin — a script of the 2022 irish film. we follow two lifelong friends who find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for them both. full of heart, melancholic, and perfect for a quick read <3

a dowry of blood — a beautiful reimagining of dracula, from the perspective of his first wife. lyrical, dark, seductive, and gorgeously queer!!

you can find in-depth thoughts of every book i read this month on my substack!! 🤎

[starrfleshh]

Simone de Beauvoir and Sartre's grave.

I left a kiss, a ticket and a heart.

[philosophybitmaps]

[rachel-sylvan-author]

Happy Women in Translation Month! ❤️ “I Who Have Never Known Men” by Jacqueline Harpman (French) “Drive your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” by Olga Tokarczuk (Polish) “The Wall” by Marlen Haushofer (Austrian) “An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good” by Helene Tursten (Swedish) “Convenience Store Woman” by Sayaka Murata (Japanese) “The Traveling Cat Chronicles” by Hiro Arikawa (Japanese) “A Woman’s Story” by Annie Ernaux (French) “Childhood, Youth, Dependency” by Tove Ditlevsen (Danish) “My Brilliant Friend” by Elena Ferrante (Italian) “The Forbidden Notebook” by Alba de Céspedes (Cuban-Italian) “The Second Sex” by Simone de Beauvoir (French)

QOTD: Who is your favorite translated woman author, and your favorite book by them?