The Second Sex

I am staggered that the two "Spotlight Reviews" of this book revolve around the book being "dated." Maybe it's just where I'm from. Maybe things are radically different elsewhere in the country and the world, but most of Beauvoir's words still ring true, perhaps not to the same degree as it was in the 1950s and 1960s, but true nonetheless. We, as a society, have progressed, but perhaps not so far as some would have us believe. With all due respect to those who think differently, I must disagree. Beauvoir's book may be dated, but it is far from "impenetrable" (interesting choice of term, isn't it?) and is still applicable to the state of women as a gender today.

Simone De Beauvoir's book is the starting-point for any study of feminist theory. As part of the existentialist school of thought, the book explores why woman is the Other in society. While a few sections of this book are horribly dated (e.g. Part II - History), De Beauvoir's mamoth work initiates almost every debate waged within feminist thought up to the present day. She tackles burning debates concerning woman's biology, motherhood, prostitution and more. She also is the first to discuss the many myths surrounding women which doom them to immanence - the object through whom the subject (man) fulfills himself.