Simone de Beauvoir was a writer, philosopher, intellectual, activist and teacher. A member of the French existentialist movement, Beauvoir was considered one of the greatest theorists of modern feminism.
One of his most famous phrases is:
“ Nobody is born a woman: she becomes a woman ”.
Owner of a restless and revolutionary spirit for her time, Beauvoir rejected models, hierarchies and values. According to her:
“ No biological, psychological, economic destiny defines the form that the human female takes within society; it is the set of civilization that elaborates this intermediate product between the male and the castrated, which they describe as female . ”
Biography of Simone de Beauvoir
Simone Lucie-Ernestine-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir was born in Paris, France, on January 9, 1908.
As a child and youth he went to a Catholic school and later studied mathematics at the Catholic Institute in Paris. Although raised in a Catholic family, Simone opted for atheism. According to her:
“ It was easier for me to imagine a world without a creator than a creator loaded with all the contradictions in the world .”
He was also a student of philosophy at the University of Sorbonne. There, he met Jean Paul-Sartre , an intellectual partner and with whom he had an open relationship all his life (about 50 years).
Jean Paul-Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in Israel (1967)
That is, both were not adept at monogamy and therefore had other sexual partners throughout their lives. Thus, none of them got to marry or have children.
Simone taught at several schools in the 1930s and 1940s. With the Nazi occupation of France, Beauvoir fled the country, returning at the end of the war.
Frequenter of philosophical meetings in 1945, she, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Raymnond Aron founded the magazine ” The Modern Times ‘ ( Les Temps Modernes ). Monthly, this vehicle was very important for spreading your ideas.
His passion for books was notorious since his youth. He wrote several works of which stands out one of the greatest classics of the feminist movement “ The second sex ”, published in 1949.
A victim of pneumonia, Simone passed away at the age of 78 on April 14, 1986 in her hometown. She was buried at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, alongside her companion Jean-Paul Sartre.
Understand more about Feminism and Feminism in Brazil .
Main works by Simone de Beauvoir
Simone produced several works related to philosophy, politics and sociology. He wrote novels, novels, plays, essays and autobiographies:
- The Guest (1943)
- The Blood of Others (1945)
- The Second Sex (1949)
- The Mandarins (1954)
- Memoirs of a well-behaved girl (1958)
- A Smooth Death (1964)
- The Disappointed Woman (1967)
- Old Age (1970)
- Everything Said and Done (1972)
- The Goodbye Ceremony (1981)
Simone de Beauvoir’s thoughts
Undoubtedly, his major contribution was in the field of studies on feminism and in the fight for gender equality. Allied to this, Beauvoir was an adept of the existentialist theory , where freedom is the main characteristic.
In her work “ The second sex ” Simone addresses the role of women in society and female oppression in a world dominated by men. The book was considered aggressive and included in the Vatican’s blacklist.
In the existentialist novel “ Os Mandarins ” Simone portrays French society in the post-war period where political, moral and intellectual themes are discussed by the author. With this work, Beauvoir received the Goncourt Award.
Of his autobiographies, the work “ Memories of a well-behaved girl ” deserves to be highlighted, in which Simone presents real accounts of her life with a focus on the church’s dogmas and the behaviors of her bourgeois family. In this work, we can also notice Beauvoir’s feminism.
One of his most controversial ideas is related to marriage and motherhood. For her, marriage is a troubled and bankrupt institution in modern society.
And motherhood is a kind of slavery, where the woman abdicates her life with the obligation to marry, procreate and take care of the house. Therefore, for Simone the woman must have autonomy. In the author’s words:
“ Marriage is the destination traditionally offered to women by society. It is also true that most of them are married, or have been, or plan to be, or suffer for not being . ”
” It is not the people who are responsible for the failure of the marriage, it is the institution itself that has been perverted from the beginning .”
” Humanity is masculine and the man defines the woman not in himself, but in relation to him: she is not considered an autonomous being .”
Full of controversial ideas, Beauvoir won many admirers and, on the other hand, people who abhor his ideas.
The big question is that she played a leading role in the feminist ideologies of the 20th century. His studies were based on political, philosophical, historical and psychological theories.
Simone de Beauvoir quotes
- ” Sometimes the word represents a more skillful way of keeping silent than silence .”
- “ It is through work that women have been reducing the distance that separated them from men, only work can guarantee their concrete independence .”
- “ The man is defined as a human being and the woman is defined as a female. When she behaves like a human being she is accused of imitating the male . ”
- “ Humanity is masculine and the man defines the woman not in himself but in relation to him; it is not considered an autonomous being . ”
- ” Between those sold through prostitution and those sold through marriage, the only difference is the price and duration of the contract .”
- “ Let nothing define us. Let nothing subject us. Let freedom be our own substance . ”
It fell in Enem!
(ENEM-2015) Nobody is born a woman: she becomes a woman. No biological, psychological, economic destiny defines the form that the human female takes within society; it is the set of civilization that elaborates this intermediate product between the male and the castrated that qualifies the female .
BEAUVOIR, S. The second sex . Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 1980.
In the 1960s, Simone de Beauvoir’s proposition contributed to structure a social movement that had as a mark the
a) action by the Judiciary to criminalize sexual violence.
b) pressure from the Legislative Branch to prevent double working hours.
c) organization of public protests to guarantee gender equality.
d) opposition from religious groups to prevent same-sex marriages.
e) establishment of government policies to promote affirmative actions.
Answer:
Alternative c: organization of public protests to guarantee gender equality.To shareSubmitEmail