The second sex book

The inherited semantic tools, far from helping woman shape her experience so as to converge on an autonomous perspective, instead restrict her to an "immanent" identity wholly defined by her contingent web of relations. She is fundamentally free, yet also fundamentally a self emerging and constructing itself in relation to an other. It's a big book, and while big books do not normally frighten me, I was worried I wouldn't be smart enough for Simone de Beauvoir. Childhood -- The young girl -- Sexual initiation -- The lesbian -- pt. That Other has the power to stamp me as a certain kind of object, ascribing definite characteristics to me rather than leaving me to be free.

BMC's version of the sentence typifies their translation strategy. In part it is the recognition of this relationship which compels the Self to maintain the oppression of the Other. This and much more make this work of art so special and such a must read. Please enter recipient e-mail address es. Our goal in this article is to show that, in translation, choice is the operative word, at every step, for every word. So, to understand the female self as it has been historically constrained to develop, she targets her philosophical analysis to the representational tools - and their limits - that she has had available for her self-construction. Self-knowledge thus implies far more than insight into personal experience; it necessitates developing a historical consciousness of the inherited patterns of meaning-making that we have available for shaping our individual consciousness of self as it emerges at this given moment in time.

Amazon Rapids Fun stories for kids on the go. Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex. Early female sexual experiences may be embarrassing, painful or threatening; they may bring more self-doubt and anxiety. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. Published 6 months ago. Amazon Inspire Digital Educational Resources.

Due to technical reasons, we have temporarily removed commenting from our articles. Click here to subscribe. Only Stendhal escapes with Beauvoir's esteem, as capable of writing the real woman. And thinking, which is accepting this discomfort, is also, to put it bluntly, an attempt to have done with it. Reviewed by Irene Gammel.