The Second Sex

First published in 1949, "The Second Sex" is a landmark in the history of feminism. Of all the writing that emerged from the existentialist movement, Simone de Beauvoir's groundbreaking study of women has had the most extensive and enduring impact. It is at once a scholarly work of anthropology and sociology, of biology and psychoanalysis, from the pen of a writer and novelist of penetrating imaginative power. "The Second Sex" stands, six decades after its first appearance, as the first landmark in the modern feminist upsurge that transformed perceptions of the social relationship of man and womankind in our time. In this new translation to mark the 60th anniversary of publication, Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier have produced the first integral translation, reinstating a third of the original work. In this new translation to mark the 60th anniversary of publication, Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier have produced the first integral translation, reinstating a third of the original work.