The Second Sex

The author made interesting life choices, but I don't think they effected the book negatively, I think it stands strongly regardless of the author's life and how she tricked young women, girls.

An amazing exploration of how the world can convince you that you are not worthy of yourself and others.

This book explores outdated biology, psychology, but in a way that's interest and thoughful, reveals what a person might have thought about these subjects at that time. It takes you through experiences of french women from birth to old age. Offers some limited understanding around race and homosexuality. Discusses religion, relationships, marriage and how they disempowered women at the time and in history. Women writers, women in men's literature, prostitution, “the mother”, birthcontrol. How women were encouraged to give up, try less, stayed passive, and devoting themselves to nothing.

Learned that religious saints were something I did not think they were. I felt called out even thought I was not born as a woman, but a lot of passive behaviors I definely adapted because of odd life experiences. I feel this book helped me to envision another path for myself and now I want to dream a little bigger and be a little more harsh to myself. There were lot of thoughts I had before that were recontextualized and found new strength with this book. I feel like my views around love are naive and incomplete and this crushed my odd convictions considerably which I feel is good. This book is full of love went wrong scenarios.

The conclusion is good, but there aren't many soliutions proposed as to how exactly it might get achieved.

I loved this as an experience and the first feminist work I have read. I now realise I read so little philosophy which is sad and must change, this is so nourishing. I think this is the first “harder” philosophical work I read. There must be a ton of less accessible works, oh boy, can't wait to tackle those.