Giulia Fuliniello Languages and Culture II: The

European Intellectual Traditions

SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR: EXISTENTIALIST OF FEMINISM

Is legal equality enough to guarantee relations between men and women?

“I think that feminism is a common cause for men and women, and that men will only
succeed in living in a more equal, better organized world, a more valuable world, when
women have a more equal and more valuable status; the achievement of gender equality
affects them both.” (Beauvoir, 1987)

It is really complex to cover in one paper the life and thought of Simone de Beauvoir who
can be considered one of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, a French writer,
philosopher, teacher and feminist. That is why I have decided to focus on what can be
considered one of the most important parts of her written production: her studies on the
condition of women, which revolutionized, in a completely new perspective compared to
the first feminist wave, the very concept of the feminine.
It was during her university period that Simone de Beauvoir met the essentialist
philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, who later became, though without marriage or cohabitation,
her life and thought partner, with whom she shared the existentialist philosophical
perspective. She established an open kind of relationship with him, which allowed the two
of them to cultivate other kinds of relationships as well, far from any concept of traditional
love; indeed, de Beauvoir considered herself a free woman, on all aspects of her life.
Her most important work is surely "The Second Sex" of 1949, which led to a real revolution
in genre philosophy and in the analysis of the power relationship between man and
woman. The work brought about a real revolution in genre philosophy and in the analysis
of the power relationship between man and woman. Simone de Beauvoir, unlike the
protagonists of the first wave of the feminist movement, believed that legal equality would
not be enough to ensure equal relations between men and women, as discrimination
against the latter was deeply rooted in the cultural context.
For this reason, the author thought of a theoretical refunding of feminism to dignify the
figure of women, starting from their subordinate status in relation to the male sex,
identifying possible causes, until they achieve emancipation and full self-awareness. De
Beauvoir used an existentialist philosophical perspective arguing that every individual,
man and woman as consciousness, was essentially free.
As well as her relationship, Simone thought more carefully about marriage: she examined
her family situation, tried to understand whether marriage was really necessary to sanction
the union. And in fact she never married, but formed a deep partnership with Sartre. The
two conducted a cohabitation that immediately aroused scandal in the Paris bourgeoisie;
they drew up a contract in which they promised to support each other and signed an
obligation of infidelity. The two philosophers, and especially Simone, saw manifested
infidelity as a guarantee of stability and intellectual loyalty. Their cohabitation took on
connotations of a relationship open to both sexes, and from this then her thought of fluid
sexuality. (Scialpi, s.d.)

According to de Beauvoir opinion, marriage is never merely a personal matter. It is also a

social and political affair. As traditionally conceived, the aim of marriage is "to make the
economic and sexual union of men and women serve the interests of society" (Beauvoir,
1952, p. 434). It is possible, then, as Margaret Simons wrote in her critical essay on de
Giulia Fuliniello Languages and Culture II: The
European Intellectual Traditions

Beauvoir's philosophy, that the economic equality that frees women from the duty to marry
will incite the state to impose marriage as a duty on men and women so that its interests
may continue to be served. As an institution in transition, marriage, according to de
Beauvoir, may become a contract freely entered into by both individuals, or it may become
a union mandated by the state (Beauvoir, 1952, p. 425-26). In addition, it would recognize
that "the marriage ceremony displays its universal and abstract significance: a man and a
woman are united in accordance with symbolic ritual in full view of all; but in the secrecy of
the marriage bed they are concrete and single individuals alone together, and all eyes are
averted from their embraces" (Beauvoir, 1952, p. 440). This possibility, as Simons wrote,
would draw on this ambiguity of marriage as a political and an intimate relationship to
identify marriage as an institution that recalled the state to its duty to recognize the ethical
ground of its political practices (Simons, 2006, p. 95).

In gender relations, women, despite being as free consciences as men, were condemned
for centuries to immanence and passivity and considered for this reason the second sex,
inferior to the male sex.
The only possible path to women's emancipation, according to de Beauvoir, was that of
the "independent woman," which consisted of two basic moments: (i) becoming aware of
her own condition; (ii) being part of a collective movement: women must unite with each
other and also with men to fight together against inequality so that all individuals can have
equal rights, dignity and social, political and economic opportunities. Woman absolutely
had to take the risk of her existence and finally become a subject.
Much scandal was caused by her open relationship with philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre and
her numerous "extramarital" love affairs. Love, however, for de Beauvoir, could not be
something static and uniform but rather fluid and uncategorizable; moreover, she and
Sartre considered themselves to be two free subjects, completely self-sufficient, and for
this reason they could never consider each other's property.

De Beauvoir developed her thinking on the dignity of women in the socio-political context
following World War II, which needed a new reworking of rights and social relations among
individuals.
The author in her writing distances herself from the early feminist movement by placing
herself in a critical stance. Women's suffrage was certainly the main goal of the first
feminist wave, which saw it as the decisive step toward women's liberation and the
achievement of all other civil, political, and social rights. However, the philosopher realized
that although women had gained the right to vote, their condition had not in fact improved
within society: discrimination in the cultural context, their status in society does not change
which confirms how they have always been considered the second sex, because they are
inferior to men.
Legal equality was not enough to ensure equal relations between men and women, as
discrimination against the latter was deeply rooted in the cultural context; de Beauvoir
repeatedly stated that "it only takes a political, economic or religious crisis to challenge
women's rights” (Beauvoir).
“ One is not born, but rather becomes, woman. No biological, psychic, or economic destiny
defines the figure that the human female takes on in society; it is civilization as a whole
that elaborates this intermediary product between the male and the eunuch that is called
feminine.” (Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1949)
Giulia Fuliniello Languages and Culture II: The
European Intellectual Traditions

With this well-known quotation, the author wants to state that the inferiority status of
women, the fact that they are the Other in relation to men, is due not to a biological issue,
but to a cultural motivation; this has led as a consequence to thinking that women were
inferior and dependent on the male figure, perpetuating this condition in history and
culture.
Religion also often played an important role in the lives of people; religion perpetuates the
idea that Adam was the first man, and as he got lonely, God created Eva from his rib,
which made her “the other human”. And because Eve who dared to bite the apple from the
forbidden tree that things got the wrong way. Such ideas and myths developed the
concepts of the Other in the world.
"The Second Sex" focuses attention on the critical condition of women and unfolds
sensitive topics for those times such as abortion, motherhood and sexuality; it does so by
making use of a direct and provocative approach. The work is a critique of patriarchy and
the second-rate status granted to women throughout history. At the time of its publication it
was received with great controversy, with some critics characterizing the book as
pornography, and the Vatican placing the work on the church’s list of forbidden texts: it was
the first such censure inflicted on a woman writer in many years (Times, s.d.).
Growing up in a backward bourgeois family environment, she was raised strictly Catholic;
she was sent to convent schools during her youth and was so devoutly religious that she
considered becoming a nun. However, at the age of fourteen, the intellectually curious de
Beauvoir had a crisis of faith and declared herself an atheist, preferring the idea of "a
world without a creator, than a creator full of all the contradictions in the world" (Beauvoir).
Simone de Beauvoir focuses on the dignity and conditions of women in the post-World
War II socio-political context. Underlying her thought is the idea that in society woman is
subordinate to the male figure as she is always considered in relation to man. "The
Second Sex" makes an analysis of woman through biology, sociology, psychoanalysis and
historical materialism. First, woman is viewed from an external point of view, that of man,
and her subordinate position is described: then, in order to better understand this
condition, various passages of a woman's life are analyzed: childhood, adolescence,
sexual initiation, adulthood and maturity. Next, the philosopher reviews the categories into
which women are usually categorized.
The conclusion the author reaches is that women must free themselves from the chains
that keep them relegated to a position of inferiority, relying only on their own strength.
Moreover, it is necessary that during women's integration into society, they should be able
to enjoy equal rights and equal duties as men, passing through wage equality and school
education to birth control and abortion. It was in this regard that in the 1960s she signed
the "343 Whores Manifesto," a French petition signed by 343 women. It aimed to obtain
the repeal of a 1920 law that sentenced women who had an abortion or procured an
abortion to a sentence of three months to six years in prison (Wikipedia, s.d.). The
philosopher affirmed the importance of the appropriation of one's own body and freedom of
choice, and reiterated the concept that "children are not a duty, woman is not just ovaries"
(Beauvoir).
De Beauvoir takes up feminist themes of a Marxist orientation that she considered more
suitable than more liberal positions. She always spoke out against the capitalist state
system, believing that a socialist-type policy could eliminate all kinds of exploitation.
Giulia Fuliniello Languages and Culture II: The
European Intellectual Traditions

Women working in an equal framework could have finally won their dignity as human
beings, thus eliminating man's mediation with social reality (A. Cavarero, p. 23).
Despite the right to vote, men continued to "dominate" women; this later led to the second
wave of the feminist movement. Simone de Beauvoir's main aim was to recognize the fact
that men have always been at the center and the fundamental point of social development.
In fact, all cultural productions, from art to language use, have always had man as the
main reference. From this the author developed the idea that woman was an attribute not
integrated with man, but rather an extension of him, and connected to this is the
confirmation that history to all intents and purposes was written by men, both literally and
symbolically.
Simone de Beauvoir sees in this a symptom of a phenomenon of domination and
subjugation of women. The conclusion she draws from this is that the feminine is, in itself,
something that has been designed and defined by men and imposed on women; with
some important exceptions, women have been what men wanted her to be. The writer
argued that in common logic both sexes tend to place the male sex as the center of all
perspective, using, for example, the word "man" as a generic term for the entire human
race. This, clearly, causes women to view the world around them through the male
perspective, of which they are themselves the object and the reason why they tend to
spend hours in front of the mirror, making themselves a clear example of what Sartre
called "bad faith," that is, objectifying themselves. In the contemporary world, it can hardly
be said that things have changed dramatically: as much as considerable progress has
been made in favor of women, it is still believed that the most sensual and eroticized sex is
to be found in women's bodies, and it is often women themselves who endorse the idea
that women's bodies are more desirable than men's. It is important to understand how
masculinist culture has hindered women over time, turning them into eternal secondaries.
This is summed up in his famous phrase "no woman is born, it's about being". In short, the
theory Simone de Beauvoir outlines in "The Second Sex" emphasizes the need for women
to define their own identity outside the male gaze, without being constrained by the
impositions of that moral and intellectual reference cultivated on the basis of centuries and
centuries of domination.
Giulia Fuliniello Languages and Culture II: The
European Intellectual Traditions

Bibliografy
A. Cavarero, F. R. (s.d.). Le filosofe femministe.

Beauvoir, S. d. (s.d.).

Beauvoir, S. d. (1949). The Second Sex.

Beauvoir, S. d. (1987). Quando tutte le donne del mondo... Torino: Mondadori.

Scialpi, R. (s.d.). Simone de Beauvoir, la filosofa rivoluzionaria da Indice dei libri proibiti e ombre. Tratto da
The Web Coffee: https://www.thewebcoffee.net/2019/04/03/simone-de-beauvoir-filosofa/

Simons, M. A. (2006). The Philospphy of Simone de Beauvoir, Critical Essays. Indiana University Press.

Times, N. Y. (s.d.). Tratto da https://www.nytimes.com/1956/07/13/archives/vatican-condemns-de-

beauvoir-books.html

Wikipedia. (s.d.). Tratto da https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manifesto_of_the_343#:~:text=The%20Manifesto

%20of%20the%20343,exposed%20themselves%20to%20criminal%20prosecution.