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Simone de Beauvoir: 2 ideas worth knowing

2 ideas from Simone de Beauvoir, each explained in a minute and credited to the original work. Free on Savvy.

• A philosopher argued womanhood isn't something you're born with — it's something built

  In 1949's The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir wrote: 'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.' She argued femininity as society defines it is a role constructed through upbrin…

  — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex

• Beauvoir said freedom isn't freedom from other people — it's bound up with them

  In 'The Ethics of Ambiguity', Simone de Beauvoir argued that human existence is irreducibly ambiguous: we're each free to create our own meaning, yet that freedom only becomes real…

  — Simone de Beauvoir, The Ethics of Ambiguity (Pour une morale de l'ambiguïté)

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