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The Second Sex

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The Second Sex

By: Simone de Beauvoir, Constance Borde, Sheila Malovany-Chevallier
Narrated by: Ellen Archer, Judith Thurman
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About this listen

Unabridged and available on audio for the first time

Simone de Beauvoir’s essential masterwork is a powerful analysis of the Western notion of "woman", and a revolutionary exploration of inequality and otherness. This unabridged edition of the text reinstates significant portions of the original French text that were cut in the first English translation, and is now available on audio for the very first time. Vital and groundbreaking, Beauvoir’s pioneering and impressive text remains as pertinent today as when it was first published, and will continue to provoke and inspire generations of men and women to come.

©2014 Simone De Beauvoir, Constance Borde, Sheila Malovany-Chevallier (P)2019 Random House Audio
Gender Studies
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Critic reviews

"[A] masterpiece.... Restores essential passages that have been missing for 60 years." (The Times)

"Groundbreaking.... A fresh, much expanded, more intelligible book which repays re-reading by adherents of the old version, and cries out for attention from young women who have not been exposed to this most powerful of feminist thinkers. The Second Sex [is] the foundation text of second-wave feminism. It is probably the most important and influential philosophical treatise of the 20th century." (The Irish Times)

"The Second Sex is an inquiry into a subject with profound implications for the entire human race, and its ideas are as fresh and inspiring as they were when [Beauvoir] began work.... Now Beauvoir’s great work is available in a full English translation for the first time.... It is a fine piece of work, a lucid translation." (The Independent)

What listeners say about The Second Sex

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… just Tools

This is what I was left with after listening this Great Book.
Woman and man are both tools through which nature manifests itself. Thus, both have a natural/biological tendency to identify as different, as “the other” for nature’s sake, but done unconsciously.
When we refer to our differences, they are nature’s differences in us both (man and woman), which makes one, “the other”. So man or woman are “the other” just seen through biological laws. This is the patriarchy’s legacy built on. And both sexes believe in it today, as it is.

The conclusion part of the book gives a solution to this problem. Taking differences as objective attributes assigned by nature, and stripping this interface of a woman or man, we get access to the core of a being which is “the same” and not “the other” .
Conclusion - both sexes should take or discover themselves as equal to each other, making abstraction of natural differences, because only through cooperation two differences can be better and greater than any single one, alone .

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Superb

Excellent feminist bible.
So relevant still today.
Essential reading for all humanity

Wish I’d read it when I was a teenager

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Brilliant

Quiet simply the best book I've ever had the pleasure of consuming.

Fantastic narration - seriously, clear to any listeners will be the passion on display. Aside from Jim Norton's reading of Ulysses, the best I've encountered.

Content a point of eternal majesty with numerous moments of clarity and epiphany that create a cerebral shiver, almost as if the content was always known but buried deep below societal prejudices and stereotypes. The last book which evoked such feelings to this extent was Orientalism by Edward Said.

Perhaps the best aspect, and the greatest signal of virtue in any work, a good handful of other works have been thrust onto my reading list!

Many hours, but each one well spent... and so many bookmarks!!! :)

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Beyond Genius

6 hours in, and riveted! I was heartbroken when my headphones died. I cant wait to dive back in tomorrow.
I had heard extracts of her work on other platforms that Intrigued me, but, following her narrative myself is perspective-altering. Being a man who's always tried to be conscious of women's equality, but never precisely understanding what that meant, I find this book a much needed origin-exploration of the issues that must be remedied in order to dissolve the fallacy of male superiority. Truly Incredible.

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Amazing opus

This is a necessary masterpiece with great performance. However, the decision to read each footnote and translation remarks was pointless.

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A formidable work but a tough read


Well this was quite the challenge. I thought I'd 'get' this - after all, I've got a degree in sociology. I don't, however, have degrees in philosophy, psychology (the Freudian stuff made me cringe I'm afraid), history, politics, evolutionary biology, etc etc. It's a formidable work and very impressive in its scope but I have to admit a lot of it went over my head.

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7 people found this helpful