The Second Sex 680053 223563281 2008-07-04T17:09:57Z Scarykitty 156823 in this form, this article is a stub if I ever saw one {{weasel}} {{Refimprove|date=April 2008}} {{Infobox Book | name = The Second Sex | title_orig = | translator = | image = [[Image:0679724516.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg|200px]] | image_caption = Vintage Reissue edition ([[1989]]) | author = [[Simone de Beauvoir]] | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = [[France]] | language = [[French Language|French]] | series = | subject = | genre = [[Philosophical]] <br /> [[Feminist]] | publisher = | release_date = [[1949 in literature|1949]] | english_release_date = | media_type = [[Hardback]] <br /> [[Softback]] | pages = 800 | isbn = ISBN 0-679-72451-6 | preceded_by = | followed_by = }} '''''The Second Sex''''' ([[French language|French]]: ''Le Deuxième Sexe'', [[1949]]) is one of the best known works of the [[France|French]] [[Existentialism|existentialist]] [[Simone de Beauvoir]]. It is a work on the treatment of women throughout history and often regarded as a major [[feminist]] work. In it she argues that women throughout history have been defined as the "other" sex, an aberration from the "normal" male sex.<ref name=circumstances> de Beauvoir, Simone, ''Force of Circumstances'' translated by Richard Howard (Penguin, 1968)</ref> Beauvoir wrote the book after attempting to write about herself. The first thing she wrote was that she was a woman, but she realized that she needed to define what a woman was, which became the intent of the book. [[Judith Butler]] says that de Beauvoir's formulation that "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman",<ref name=book> de Beauvoir, Simone ''The Second Sex''(Vintage Books, 1973), p. 301</ref> distinguishes the terms 'sex' and 'gender'. Butler says that the book suggests that 'gender' is an aspect of identity which is "gradually acquired". Butler sees ''The Second Sex'' as potentially providing a radical understanding of gender.<ref name=Butler> Butler, Judith, 'Sex and Gender in Simone de Beauvoir's Second Sex' in ''Yale French Studies'', No. 72 (1986), pp. 35-49.</ref> [[Toril Moi]] points out that the current English translations of ''The Second Sex'' are poor.<ref name=Moi> Moi, Toril, 'While we wait: The English translation of The Second Sex' in ''Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society'' vol. 27, no 4 (2002), pp. 1005–1035</ref> The publication rights to the book are owned by [[ALfred A. Knopf, Inc. (publisher)|Alfred A. Knopf, Inc]] and according to Moi although the publishers are aware of the problems with the English text they insist that there really is no need for a new translation.<ref name=Moi/> ==References== {{reflist}} == See also == * [[Feminist existentialism]] * ''[[The Female Eunuch]]'' * ''[[Fear of Flying]]'' == External links == * [http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/fr/2ndsex.htm 'The Second Sex' by Simone de Beauvoir] (Free English Translation) {{DEFAULTSORT:Second Sex, The}} [[Category:1949 books]] [[Category:Existentialism]] [[Category:Existentialist works]] [[Category:Feminism books]] [[Category:Feminist novels]] [[Category:Philosophy books]] [[Category:French novels]] [[Category:Sociology books]] [[ar:الجنس الآخر]] [[ca:El segon sexe]] [[cs:Druhé pohlaví]] [[de:Das andere Geschlecht]] [[es:El segundo sexo]] [[fa:جنس دوم]] [[fr:Le Deuxième Sexe]] [[gl:O segundo sexo]] [[ko:제2의 성]] [[it:Il secondo sesso]] [[no:Det annet kjønn]] [[pl:Druga płeć]] [[pt:O Segundo Sexo]] [[sv:Det andra könet]] [[zh:第二性]] {{Feminism-stub}}