Second Sex

Rating:
Summary: Should have earned De Beauvoir the Nobel Prize
Review: Although I haven't read the flawed English translation by a hostile male, I have read Madame de Beauvoir and the complete uncensoured version of this brilliant piece of work in the original French language. (It's striking that some intellectually challenged reviewers refer to Simone de Beauvoir - one of the most prominent philosophers of the 20 century - as "Simone". In comparison, I can't imagine her lifepartner being addressed as "Jean-Paul", but, of course, referring to prominent women by their first name is a common means of belittling them and their achievements. Read more about it in "The Second Sex".)

Anyone who dismisses the endlessly acute relevance of this masterpiece on human rights as "outdated" - particularly Americans who in 2004 still suffer rampantly archaic sexist issues with women owning the right to their own bodies or the idea of switching the governmental gender balance from a cluster of regressive males to progressive women - only airs their own fundamental ignorance regarding existential conditions for women in a world run by the women-hating male gender.

"The Second Sex" makes for a painful read the intellectual content of which will not be outdated until the day we live in a post-patriarchal society - and that day wont arrive until we have reformed and modernised the male gender. The current destructive relic has long passed its expiry date.

Rating:
Summary: The key to Simone de Beauvoir's World View
Review: First published in 1949 this book will never go out of print while there is still a demand for startling, precise and lucid argument. The central theme (that although women are seemingly doomed to immanence by a misogynist society and culture, we are capable of transcendence)is as fresh and relevant as ever. Read it and think!

Rating:
Summary: It did what was necessary to my head
Review: I, a young white man, read Second Sex last week. Although it contained almost nothing that I had not read before, it did what was necessary to my head. It somehow made the position of woman as the Other imaginable by me. Reading it, I imagined what it would be like for me to live in a society that had been dominated by women for more than three thousand years, a society where almost all the most renowned people, heroes, and religious icons were women. A society where the United States of America had had nothing but women presidents and every state was predominantly represented by women, though males account for half the population. Where the predominant forms of music for the last fifty years have all treated men as an interesting and occasionally useful, but often annoying or even maddening objects, and us men run around in skimpy calvin klein-style underwear on MTV while hip-hop women constantly call us "dogs" in their raps and the classic rock section of the local used music store overflows with female lyrics that question what is more important in life, men, cars, or booze? and blame us men for breaking their poor girl hearts and for being warlocks, (...), or idiots (while the woman rock stars collect millions of dollars and boy groupies run around ready to have sex with any security guard to get a shot to have sex with the famous women).

A society where families are dominated by mothers and their husbands live in fear of having their allowance terminated, and have to do menial chores around the house to try to feel, or at least look, useful. Where a boy child realizes before he is 10 that he is a failure and, at best, a second-rate human being (if not an object)(...) A society that is obsessed by the symbol of the womb--in which musical instruments, spaceships, means of transportation, weapons, religious ornaments, political regalia, and thousands of other things are designed to resemble the shape of a womb. A society in which men are scared, brutally scared, of walking around alone at night because almost any woman can physically overpower them and rape them with a sex toy. In which the most famous and influential philosophers of all time, the ones that get taught in university classes and whose books are actually bought and read and that influence the intelligensia, are all women, mostly women who loathe and/or misunderstand men and write things such as "What is the cure for all of a man's problems? Impregnating a woman" but despite such stupidities are adored by female thinkers.

And so on...

So that's why I rated this 5 stars. It did something to me, which is the most important quality in a book for someone who's read thousands.

Rating:
Summary: The "Other" woman.
Review: In SECOND SEX, Simone de Beauvior proves that she was a literary, philosophical, visionary genius. "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman," she observes in her masterpiece, which not only sparked the feminist movement when it was first published in France in 1949 under the title, LE DEUXIEME SEX, but which also has become one of the most important books of the twentieth century, regardless of gender. In the SECOND SEX, de Beauvoir succeeds at integrating the disciplines of psychology, literature, history, philosophy, religion and biology, to offer her reader an intelligent, comprehensive, and uninhibited analysis of what it means to be a woman. De Beauvoir's basic argument is that throughout history, the female gender has been reduced to "the other" by patriarchal societies, that is, a secondary gender that is not man.

In the course of her 700-page analysis, de Beauvoir insightfully examines female biology and sexuality, myths relating to the female gender, the formative years, female "situations" including the married woman, the mother, the lesbian, and prostitutes, and, ultimately, the liberated, independent woman. SECOND SEX will remain both controversial and relevant for as long as archaic, patriarchal attitudes toward women still continue to exist in this world.

Truly, this book has the power to change one's life. Every woman should read this book as a required owner's manual and as a introduction to feminist theory, and every man should read this book in an attempt to escape from his outdated, ingrained perceptions relating to women.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: The most original work I've read.
Review: Reading feminism books that were written after The Second Sex, it's clear that 95% of them get their basis from Simone. Originally she was going to write a book on defining herself, but when she looked into the mirror, the first thing she said is "I am a woman" she spent over two years researching the history of womyn, and her undeniable wit and intellegence is extremely present in this book. She knew what she was talking about and was not afraid

If you want to know why any individual is a feminist, read this book, it pertains to both sexes and it will present you with ideas that you never even thought about or even recognized. It moves beyond the surface of "radical feminism" and digs deep and helps you understand.

The only problem I found is that she didnt come up with an answer, but that was not her purpose, she was only explaining the problem and what she saw, she also repeats herself a lot, but I think she does that on purpose. Tt's outdated and I sincerely wish Simone' were still alive to expand her ideas and see what she thought of womyn today, I'd be the first to buy her "updated views."

Rating:
Summary: The Translation Ruins the Book
Review: The Second Sex is a tour de force. Though outdated in places, the relevance of Simone de Beauvoir's work still shines today. Before I read this book I knew virtually nothing about feminism. Now I have been inspired to go back to college and major in women's studies. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone wanting a good solid base in feminist thought and reasoning. Admittedly, it is dense and took me four months of on-and-off reading to finish, but for those up to the challenge, this book is for you!

Rating:
Summary: defining text of the feminist movement
Review: This book can be regarded as the defining text of the feminist
movement. The first time I read this book nearly 10 years ago,
I loved it. I keep reading parts of it over time. Her views about
society still seem to current even though she had written his
in the 40s/50s.
Anyone who considers oneself a feminist, or just someone
wanting to understand society, this book is a must-read.

Rating:
Summary: I wish more women had this intelligence and sensitivity
Review: This book is a real masterpiece by a great writer who manages to create a lucid,
systematic, clear portrait of women's history and situation. It touches both the practical
side of women's condition and the more subtle sociological and psychological issues that
explain the whys and hows of their condition. It is not an "agry" book againts males, but a
very balanced analysis that puts the blame for discrimination both on the arrogance and hypocrisy
of the dominating male gender and on the passive acceptance that women often offer in exchange
for indulgence and "adoration". I wish I could say that this book is now old and outdated, but having lived
both isn the US and Italy, I must say that its content is very much actual and relevant today in
both countries. Don't think this book is hard to read. It will be hard only if you are one of those
persons wwo have lost the ability and habit of thinking (too much TV maybe?) This book WILL make
you think. Remember that this is no boring essay but some arid sociologist but the work
of a great artist and as such will touch on philosophy, and on a deep view of human character,
desires and aspirations. Another very strong point of this book is the beautiful writing style
of Simone, so if you have even a basic grasp of French try by all means to read in its original language.