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Title: The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir ISBN: 0-679-72451-6 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 17 December, 1989 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (22 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Should have earned De Beauvoir the Nobel Prize
Comment: 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Anyone who dismisses the endlessly acute relevance of this masterpiece on human rights as "outdated" - particularly Americans who in 2004 still suffer rampantly archaic sexist issues with women owning the right to their own bodies or the idea of switching the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"The Second Sex" makes for a painful read the intellectual content of which will not be outdated until the day we live in a post-patriarchal society - and that day wont arrive until we have reformed and modernised the male gender.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: 2
Summary: Seriously outdated.
Comment: This book is a very important book, historically. If you're looking to study the history of feminism, it's essential. Further, for someone who simply wishes to get a feel for just how far we've come in the last fifty years, it can be very informative to read this book, and see just what constituted "radical" feminist thought around 1950.
But if what you're interested in is cutting-edge, interesting, thought-provoking feminist theory, I'm afraid that this book no longer has what it takes. It was all of these things when it was written, and most of them as recently as the 1970s, but for a modern reader, most of de Beauvoir's concepts and arguments fall into one of three categories:
The first is the "Well, DUH!" category, in which she makes a large production out of an argument that has long since become generally accepted; only the most neanderthal sexist would still argue against the basic right of women to be treated on an equal basis with men in employment, or to be treated as, legally, an equal partner with their spouse in a marriage, for two of the most obvious examples. People may argue still about what exactly constitutes equal treatment, but almost no one would dispute the basic concept.
The second category, and even more unfortunate, is the category of arguments which have long since been discarded as themselves sexist; for all of her attempts to be radical, she was still a product of her time, and rather a lot of ideas got past her internal screen. The most obvious example of this category is her blind acceptance of the claim, then popular among most gynecologists (which of course, at the time, meant "most male gynecologists", since there were very few of any other kind) that almost all menstrual or pre-menstrual difficulties experienced by their patients had no physical cause, but were in fact caused by a psychological problem with accepting their femininity. De Beauvoir, of course, puts a more tolerant spin on this outdated claim, suggesting that it is only REASONABLE that women would have difficulties accepting the demands put upon them by society's reaction to their gender, but that doesn't change the fact that she accepts the basic premise itself, a premise that has long since been recognised (at least by feminists) as patent hooey. There are a great many physical causes of menstrual difficulties, and if there are occasional instances of neurotic triggers, that doesn't make the statement "I can't find a physical reason for your problem, therefore there isn't one," an acceptable diagnosis.
The third category of argument in this book, at least for the reader unschooled in existentialist psychobabble and/or marxist dialectic, is the "WHAT did she just say?" argument. In spite of claims to the contrary in the introduction, this book is rather heavy going for the reader not familiar with the catch-phrases and pet terms of those disciplines. Terms like "immanence", "transcendance", and such are liberally sprinkled throughout the text, and it is assumed that the reader is familiar with the usage. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but it does make the book rather inaccessible to the average reader.
I do NOT recommend this book to the general public; for committed historians, particularly historians of the feminist movement, there is much to be learned from it. But for the general reader, it has long since lost the relevance that made it worth the effort to parse the 814 pages of impenetrable language.
Rating: 5
Summary: I wish more women had this intelligence and sensitivity
Comment: 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.
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Title: The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, Anna Quindlen ISBN: 0393322572 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft ISBN: 0486290360 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 03 July, 1996 List Price(USD): $3.00 |
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Title: A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf, Mary Gordon ISBN: 0156787334 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: December, 1989 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone De Beauvoir, Somone De Beauvior ISBN: 080650160X Publisher: Citadel Trade Pub. Date: October, 2000 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill ISBN: 0486296016 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 24 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $2.50 |
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