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Table of Contents
Simone de Beauvoir is most famous for her book The Second Sex, which talks about the condition of women. This book helped change the lives of women all over the world.
See the fact file below for more information on Simone de Beauvoir or alternatively, you can download our 27-page Simone de Beauvoir worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.
Key Facts & Information
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
- Simone de Beauvoir was a writer and philosopher who focused on problems of gender, oppression and the body.
- Her real name was Simone-Lucie-Ernestine-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir.
- Beauvoir was born in Paris in 1908. She died there in 1986.
- Beauvoir was a smart child who loved to learn.
- When her sister was born, Beauvoir became her teacher and taught her everything she knew.
- Beauvoir always wanted to be a writer and a teacher. She pursued her studies with vigor.
- Beauvoir was educated in Catholic private institutions.
- She decided at the age of fourteen that God did not exist, and she remained an atheist until her death.
- She met Elizabeth Mabille (Zaza), and they became girlfriends.
- Unfortunately, Zaza died untimely.
- Although the doctor said that Zaza died from meningitis, Beauvoir believed that her friend had died from a broken heart after a fight with her family about an arranged marriage.
- Zaza’s friendship and death had a big impact on Beauvoir’s life.
- Beauvoir often talked about how it affected her life and her views on how women are treated in society.
UNIVERSITY AND ADULTHOOD
- Simone went to the Sorbonne University.
- Beauvoir went to school with other famous people, like Simone Weil and Claude Levi-Strauss.
- While at the Sorbonne, she met Jean-Paul Sartre, and the two of them became lifelong partners.
- Beauvoir received certificates in Philosophy, Greek, Logic, Ethics, Sociology, and Psychology.
- She also passed an exam that allowed her to teach philosophy. She was the second place, and Sartre was the first.
- Although they never married (despite Sartre’s proposal in 1931), had children together, or even lived in the same home, Sartre and Beauvoir remained intellectual and romantic partners until Sartre’s death in 1980.
SIMONE’S WRITINGS
- Beauvoir taught at a number of schools before she started writing for a living.
- Simone, a schoolteacher, was harshly criticized for her critical remarks about women’s issues and pacifism.
- She also wrote prize winning novels, four books of philosophy, travel books on China and the US, and a number of essays.
- The best known essay is “The Second Sex.”
- After her many successful books and the high profile of her and Sartre’s lives, her career was marked by fame that is rare for philosophers.
- Later in her life, she wrote more fiction, philosophical essays, and interviews.
- She was well-known for her political action in feminist issues, as well as for publishing her autobiography in four volumes.
- She also became engaged in politics and spoke out against the French war and the tortures of Algerians.
- Simone de Beauvoir was a woman of great courage and integrity, whose life showed her beliefs.
GENDER AND WOMEN: THE SECOND SEX
- One of the most famous quotes from de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex is: “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”
- In her book, Beauvoir says that society expects women to act a certain way, which includes being passive, caring about their appearance, and needing protection.
- However, these are not innate characteristics that all women are born with.
- Simone’s most controversial book, it made her as a feminist figure.
- This book was embraced by feminists and intellectuals, as well as mercilessly attacked.
- Many young women today feel confident that they have the same rights as their brothers.
- This change in attitude is thanks, in part, to Beauvoir’s work. She helped to show that women are just as entitled to work and pleasure as men are.
- The Second Sex is an important book that helps us understand the “problem of woman.”
- This has always been a problem for men, and this book can help us start to figure out a way to solve it.
- In the book, Beauvoir not only gathered a lot of facts and theories; she also got women to think critically and act together—a collective identity—which was very important for the women’s movement.
- Her insights have helped many readers understand their feelings about being female. These readers thought that their fears, transgressions, fantasies, and desires were strange or unique.
- None of the women before her wrote about being a woman as openly as Simone did.
- Beauvoir pointed out that women were treated not equally to men and lost their transcendence and freedom.
- Women were limited to being pretty and sweet, and also having children and staying at home.
- “The true woman is an artificial product that civilization manufactures,” she wrote down.
- After the scandal of The Second Sex, and despite the letters of thanks from readers, she stopped writing about feminist theory. It was very difficult to advance in intellectual solitude as she did.
THE WOMEN MOVEMENT
- The 1970s were a time when feminist movements were popular.
- When the next generation found her essay, Simone became interested in the women’s movement.
- She saw it as being similar to the anti-capitalist struggle.
- Beauvoir went to demonstrations and wrote and lectured about the situation of women.
- She also signed petitions advocating various rights for women.
- Beauvoir helped start the French Women’s Liberation Movement.
- She was one of the signatories of the ‘Manifesto of the 343’, which called for the decriminalization of abortion.
- This manifesto had a large number of signatures from various personalities, including herself, who admitted to having had an abortion.
- Seventy years later, many of the issues from The Second Sex are no longer a problem.
- But some issues, such as women’s access to spheres of power, remain unresolved.
- Simone de Beauvoir leaves us with a task to think about freedom.
- Even in certain oppressive circumstances, women have the power to choose what women want to do. They have the ability to decide, resist and fight.
Simone de Beauvoir Worksheets
This is a fantastic bundle that includes everything you need to know about Simone de Beauvoir across 27 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about Simone de Beouvoir who is most famous for her book The Second Sex, which talks about the condition of women.
Complete List Of Included Worksheets
- Simone de Beauvoir Facts
- Growing up as a Girl
- Mom or Dad?
- The Women in my Family
- Righting Language
- A Timeline of Women’s Rights
- Production and Reproduction
- Gender Expression
- Against the Eternal Feminine
- What is Gender?
- Women’s Emancipation
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Simone de Beauvoir most famous for?
Simone de Beauvoir was a French writer and philosopher best known for having written the book The Second Sex which explored the idea of being a woman and the oppressions that women experience in society.
What kind of feminist was Simone de Beauvoir?
Because of her ideas that mainly revolved around the promotion of equal treatment of women and men, Simone de Beauvoir is classified as a part of second-wave feminism which began in the 1960s, focusing on the different issues brought about by patriarchal institutions.
What did Simone de Beauvoir contribute to the feminist movement?
Apart from writing the revolutionary treatise The Second Sex, Beauvoir was also a crucial figure in the French Women’s Liberation Movement. One of the things she did for the movement was author and sign the Manifesto of the 343 which contained signatories of women who had had an abortion in France.
Was Simone de Beauvoir married?
Simone de Beauvoir is known for being in a lifelong relationship with the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre which lasted for 51 years. However, the couple did not join in marriage.
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