This quote from Ms. de Beauvoir couldn't be true... right?

Question

"No woman should be authorized to stay at home to raise her children. Society should be totally different. Women should not have that choice, precisely because if there is such a choice, too many women will make that one."

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second s*x

Answer 1

I highly recommend reading "The Second s*x". It is an enjoying read, and in context of her life, this quote is something to consider. She led an anything-but-normal life and had love that didn't fit society's mold. However, it worked for her and she wrote the book when she was relatively young. She probably came down too hard and couldn't be apologetic about her convictions. Katie Roiphe or Anthony Bourdain, anyone? Writers always put themselves on the highest pedestals when they are first published, only to realize later what they said, and how its distracting connotations from the original point might be embarrassing. Anyway, "The Second s*x" fits modern women's lives very well. Ms. de Beauvoir was well ahead of her time, and is considered to be one of the most influential French philosophers, on par with Foucault even. I know people dislike the French because it's "in vogue" currently, but a lot of great thinkers and artists came from there (Descartes, Proust), and established artists go to visit there for inspiration (David Sedaris). Women thinkers there are treated differently than they are here in the USA. There is more "breathing room", which is probably why French philosophy is so world-renowned. Still, I had to find out about Simone de Beauvoir through other channels. I am an avid reader, but she popped up only because my ex-boyfriend had an interest in Jean-Paul Sartre, her lover, whom always said he felt inferior to her intellect. He probably wasn't, but again, she was definitely ahead of her time. The Second s*x was her magnum opus. And deservedly so.

Answer 2

It is true.

This is similar to numerous silly feminist quotes.

Answer 3

Regrettably, I'm not familiar with this author nor the author's work, my apologies.

Answer 4

You need to realize that these women were f*cking crazy. She was used and abused by Jean Paul Sarte.

Answer 5

Simone de Beauvoir was deeply in love with Jean Paul Sarte. He was a womanizer, he cheated on her, she did everything in her power to make this man stay with her. She has said that the time with him was the best time of her life.

She had a permissive personality, rather than distancing herself from this man who treated her womanhood like c**p she molded herself to gain his approval.

If only this man wanted a housewife I'm sure she would have been more than happy to marry, since he looked down on settling down she molded her views to keep him in her life.

Answer 6

I don't think she's being serious...is she? I mean, it sounds to me like she is saying that anyone would rather stay home than have to work. Is she trying to be humorous?

Answer 7

The Second s*x has never been properly translated into English.  The person who translated it did a hack job.  There is actually a petition for the publisher to finally authorise a proper translation but so far they have refused to.  Until then, it is impossible for an english speaker to fully know what Ms Beauvoir actually said or meant to say, in her own words :-)

Answer 8

Yes, it is true.  Simone de Beauvoir loathed housewives, just as Betty Friedan did (see 'The Feminine Mystique' in which she blames us for all the ills of society).  Feminism is based on the notion that staying at home with the children is an unfit occupation for any woman, whether it's something she wants to do or not.

And the person who said that Ms de Beauvoir was 'very young' when she wrote this book has a strange idea of very young.  She was forty when she wrote it, which I would not myself describe as 'very young'.

Answer 9

You are taking the quote out of context. Please list the page it is written on. Thanks.

Answer 10

thats one way for the human race to go extinct.