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#WomanOfTheWeek Simone de Beauvoir

Published on by Anna Laugesen

This post was published 6 years ago. You can explore more recent posts through the categories and tags.

Follow our new campaign called #WomanOfTheWeek. Each week we will focus on a new, important, historical female writer and post about her and her work. We will be highlighting the lives of the well-known, groundbreaking feminist writers, as well as the, sometimes, lesser known female authors. Feel free to contribute! We would love to hear your input as to what female authors you want to learn more about/or perhaps teach us about.

This week’s #WomanOfTheWeek is Simone de Beauvoir

Pink post with blue, bold writing that reads "Our new #WomanOfTheWeek is the French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir. De Beauvoir is the famous author of The Second Sex (1949) an important work of feminist philosophy often regarded as a groundwork for second wave feminism. De Beauvoir believed that one of the most important things women could do in their lives was to work, in order to become independent."

Pink post with blue, bold writing that reads "“One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” (de Beauvoir, 1949). In The Second Sex (1949), Simone de Beauvoir argues that the status of woman in society is not a given, it is constructed and because it is constructed it can be subject to change. Ultimately, de Beauvoir argues against essentialism which means that it is not the biological condition of women that constitutes their role in society, but rather it is through norms and conventions that the role of women is invented."

Posted in #WomanOfTheWeek, Blog

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