The second sex : a work in progress
Date
1992
Authors
Yaffe, Deborah Rachel
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Abstract
The Second Sex, by Simone de Beauvoir, was the founding text of the feminist Second Wave, providing the theoretical basis for the main strands of activist theory and practice and for feminist scholarship. The widespread influence of Beauvoir's text was mainly due to the use made of her ideas by the major texts of the early Women's Liberation Movement. Subsequent texts have consistently referred back to The Second Sex, whether to accept or refute, to extend or to modify Beauvoir's arguments. Consequently, The Second Sex continues to function as a magnetic pole by which feminist theorists orient themselves.
This study examines how the classic texts of liberal feminism, The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan and The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer; the classic texts of radical feminism, Kate Millett's Sexual Politics, Shulamith Firestone's The Dialectic of Sex, and Robin Morgan's Sisterhood is Powerful; and the classic socialist feminist texts, Woman's Estate by Juliet Mitchell and Woman's Consciousness, Man's World by Sheila Rowbotham, all relied extensively on Beauvoir's analysis of women's oppression. It demonstrates that current feminist writing continues to base itself on the concepts articulated in The Second Sex and suggests that theoretical breakthroughs may require a thorough revaluation of these concepts.