Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory.

Born in Paris in 1908, she was profoundly religious as a child. She planned to become a nun, but underwent a crisis of faith at the age of 14 and resided as an atheist for the rest of her life, no doubt sparking her exploration into existentialism and philosophy.

The Second Sex, first published in 1949 in French as Le Deuxième Sexe, turns the existentialist mantra that existence precedes essence into a feminist one: "One is not born but becomes a woman" (in French: "On ne naît pas femme, on le devient"). With this famous phrase, Beauvoir first articulated what has come to be known as the sex-gender distinction, that is, the distinction between biological sex and the social and historical construction of gender and its attendant stereotypes. Beauvoir argues that "the fundamental source of women's oppression is its [femininity's] historical and social construction as the quintessential" Other.

Beauvoir defines women as the "second sex" because women are defined in relation to men. She pointed out that Aristotle argued women are "female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities", while Thomas Aquinas referred to the woman as "imperfect man" and the "incidental" being.

Beauvoir asserted that women are as capable of choice as men, and thus can choose to elevate themselves, moving beyond the "immanence" to which they were previously resigned and reaching "transcendence", a position in which one takes responsibility for oneself and the world, where one chooses one's freedom.

De Beauvoir rejected conventionality and showed women that they are necessary, complete, and whole human beings by themselves. She demonstrated that women have a voice and it is paramount to use it. She presented that women are of substance. They are much more than just the ‘other.’

Some of her inspirational quotes:

“A woman is what a man says she is, and everything that he cannot be.”

“Women are not the victims of some mysterious fate: our ovaries do not condemn us to a lifetime of submission.”

“I am awfully greedy; I want everything from life. I want to be a woman and to be a man, to have many friends and to have loneliness, to work much and write good books, to travel and enjoy myself, to be selfish and to be unselfish… You see, it is difficult to get all that I want. And then when I do not succeed, I get mad with anger.”

“Humanity is male, and man defines woman, not in herself but in relation to himself.”

“Self-knowledge is no guarantee of happiness, but it is on the side of happiness and can supply the courage to fight for it.”

“What would Prince Charming have for occupation if he had not to awaken the Sleeping beauty?”

“Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.”

“I am too intelligent, too demanding, and too resourceful for anyone to be able to take charge of me entirely. No one knows me or loves me completely. I have only myself.”

“Sex pleasure in woman is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon; if words or movements oppose the magic of caresses, the spell is broken.”

“I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.”

References

Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir Is The Badass Inspiration You Need To Keep Going

6 feminist quotes by Simone de Beauvoir