The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir isn't for everyone | BOOK REVIEW
The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir isn't for everyone, in the very least because it does not appear to serve the interests of all women.
GoodReads review: / 1849127359
BUY HERE:
🇬🇧 UK : https://amzn.to/3vIlc1b
🇺🇸 US : https://amzn.to/3ieWGks
Disclaimer: as a heterosexual man my analysis may be biased or moot, as women are the readership and subject of this book. Dismiss at will any statements you see as unintentionally biased, inaccurate or offensive. At best this video might demonstrate how feminism can be confusing (to men). All opinions are subject to change, and are stated lightly.
Here I suggest that The Second Sex might be too dated for us to see it as a groundwork that informs modern-day feminism, because it is not inclusive across race, class, gender or sex identities. I argue that, even though it is dated, earlier works (namely A Room of One's Own) more precisely addressed feminist issues from a more inclusive and constructive way. I show my intention here was to understand the motives for Camille Paglia in her feminist activism, which seems to be undermined in current times despite her first being inspired by this book, which bizarrely (at least, to me) seems more acceptable even today. I call out Simone de Beauvoir's attack on John Stuart Mill's legislative work for women's rights, which I think was in itself both sexist and against the progress of women's rights. It was also entirely unnecessary to her point and reflects the polemic nature of this work. I briefly highlight extremists on both sides of the debate (Valerie Solanas and Alain Soral), to show that maybe The Second Sex did get people talking about the right things, but it seems to me that it may have initiated a rather divisive discourse about progress. It's easy to criticize things in retrospect, especially when you're not the reading audience, but I think someone needed to say it, and after 700 pages of reading this thing I thought it may as well be me. I mean no harm, civil discussion welcome. Please disregard me and my views if they bother you as these are only personal opinions which may well be biased and/or not at all representative of your lived experience.
Come find me on GoodReads, where I try to review every book that I read, primarily as a reminder for my future self.
/ oolevityoo
= Dislike (not recommended) ("failed")
** = Okay (recommended to select audience) ("flawed")
*** = Like (recommended to general audience) ("fine")
**** = Really like (strongly recommended to select audience) ("focused")
***** = Love (strongly recommended to general audience) ("fervent")
#thesecondsex
#simonedebeauvoir
#bookreview
#levitybooks
