Beauvoir's Second Sex: Introduction

Dr. Ellie Anderson introduces some ideas from the Introduction to the Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir's important 1949 work of feminist philosophy and phenomenology. Dr. Anderson explores Beauvoir's method of existential ethics, idea that woman is the Other, connection to Hegel, and more.
This video is based on material from Dr. Anderson's Philosophy of Gender course at Pomona College.
Have you listened to our podcast yet? Check out all episodes at overthinkpodcast.com or on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts!

[@claramoreton4109]

This is a great video, this text is so widely unappreciated, especially by existentialist scholars! If you have a chance, it would be great if you could make a video about the 'Myths' chapter of The Second Sex. It's a really complex part of the book but so fascinating to me, and it's the closest she gets to a kind of gender metaphysics. Also, it's been argued that this chapter demonstrates that Beauvoir's conception of gender can't be mapped directly on to the Master/Slave dialectic - and even that it might be closer to unhappy consciousness!

[@dastafford]

I found the Myths chapter so interesting! Thank you for bringing that up.

[@carloszerna4514]

I’ve been going back and forth about buying a copy of the second sex and this introduction helps out a lot!

[@Apollo_Archives]

Another awesome video 👌🏽 keep it up guys you have introduced me to so many amazing texts and while I’ve read excerpts from the second sex, this video might make me finally tackle it

[@SimoniousB]

This was a treat to listen to. I enjoyed your description method, perhaps similar to an interview with Simone.. now that would be a treat.

[@rigourless]

😌extremely common dr ellie anderson slay. thank you for these videos.

[@jayconroy09]

more i see you more im falling in love with philosophy,the way you explain philosophical ideas they seem easy n force me to pickup more books on ideas. thank you so much for making me esurient for your content

[@tristenperez1904]

I love this! Thank you. Pants example was helpful. I'm coming into reading this with very traditional views of masculinity and femininity, in the sense that in general, they are complimentary, and this belief is supported by egalitarian socieities, where those differences are heightened and gender socialization is minimized. However, I'm seeking, in good faith, to challenge what I believe. I really like how the book is structured into different areas, especially how it starts with biology, and how each explains how a woman "becomes" a woman. Also! I thought it was cool to learn how both Sarte and Beauvoir adopted.

[@bannguy]

I'm reminded of two things: women spies in world war II, and the women who in a way, rose to power through intrigue while, uh, recruited as part of a harem in feudal China. Empress Dowager Cixi, and empress Wu Zetian come to mind. I think those people are extreme examples of "embracing" the Otherness. Thank you.

[@l1vg1rl]

this book 10000% changed my life

[@motrotmos]

Thanks for this excellent introduction. In particular thanks to it, I understood (i) the origin of "the other" and (ii) in what sense this is the product of existential phenomenology.

[@apali18]

Amazing video!! Big fan of the channel.

[@Its-Lulu]

Great video! Made me wanna dust off my copy that's sitting on my shelf in order to refresh my memory

[@Giantcrabz]

Ellie, I absolutely adore you and David's work, as an amateur philosophy nerd, political activist who cares about critical theory, and I am frequently right where you guys went to university in ATL. I would love to see if y'all will speak out in support of our struggle here against Cop City, or on the topics of the expansion of militarized police violence and ecocide and gentrification, as one of our queer comrades was recently murdered by the same cops we are protesting. This movement needs support against the blatant reactionary propaganda flooding the legacy media and recesses of the Internet. I have never seen a philosophy podcast as good as this one; not one episode is lackluster and there's so much thoughtful discussion and creativity and charm in each one, so you and your students would be a powerful advocate for us. If you're interested, I would love to talk more and build connections.

[@CareFreeCommuting]

Do you have plans do expand further upon this “introduction…” which got me hooked in enough to begin reading the Second Sex

[@JDSosa]

I´d really like and enjoy your lectures but this one in particular has so much editing that it was difficult to follow. Again, thank you for sharing your work with us.

[@jerrypeters1157]

Thank you so much for this explanation. So good.

[@miguelangelalonsorodriguez9220]

This is an insanely great book

[@coastalgrasslander4511]

wow on the first viewing, I was able to follow you until you started reading from the text itself! thank you

[@EnginerdBrian]

Are the Parts (I-VII) of this text best read in order or do each of them stand on their own such that it can be read out of order as individual studies/essays? I ask because the topics in parts IV & V interest me most but am unsure if I'll be missing foundational principles if skip straight to them.

[@nevermind0143]

Great overview, thanks!

[@Will.Kosh.]

great video and great book.

[@bruce-le-smith]

very helpful, thank you. great point about skirts, and masculine-coded things being both positive and a neutral centre between a binary set of poles. the crazy idea that women should be defined relative to / derivative of men, instead of as a self-sufficient human being. i once suggested to a friend that one of the deeply concerning things about the concept of whiteness is that the image/metaphor suggests the idea that 'white light contains all of the other colours within it', the concept very subtly implies a claim of both neutrality and more-than. there's something equally concerning about a claim that the concept of the masculine can be neutral and contain other genders within it (a woman being contained as a rib within a man).

[@alphablitz1024]

Super helpful. Thanks!

[@FreedomandRights4US]

This should be entertaining.. the video and the comments. I'm here for it🍿.

[@Ernesto_the_Caffiend]

Man, I dig these existentialist cats. The whole essence after-the-fact thing is groovy ah

[@markmower1746]

Yeah she's laying some heavy words to my ears

[@anand2a222]

If (and I may be misinterpreting what you are presenting/representing here in this video’s message and its contents, so bear with me if I make errors) we understand the category of “other” here as descriptive of the “servant” to the Hegelic formulation of master-servant relations between consciousnesses, and we consider the parallels of this master-servant dynamic to an existent duality within each forming (from internal and external influences) consciousness itself as the comprising components of a consciousness’s dual roles (situationally, through social/societal constructions) as student and teacher, as obedient child and authoritative adult, we can see and thence accept the necessary imperative that all consciousnesses gain experience and knowledge of playing both these roles and having practice playing both these roles in equal balance within themselves each respectively, throughout all stages and situations of their lives’ spans, meaning, illustratively, that an adult practice and embody skills of obedience and a child practice and embody skills of teaching (which could simply mean being able to teach others about one’s self and being able to assert one’s freedom)(?).

[@Nedwin]

Beauvoir's emphasis on the fact that women need access to the same kinds of activities and projects as men places her to some extent in the tradition of liberal, or second-wave feminism. She demands that women be treated as equal to men and laws, customs and education must be altered to encourage this. One of the heroines in Indonesia; Kartini, was also a feminism thinker during the 1890's to initiate social movement to raise up gender equality, female emancipation, and woman's right on education. Two female thinkers that have been driving many of social movements until today. Anyway, nice to know the fact that Beauvoir and Sartre ever had open relationship and dated a couple of times. Thanks for the review anyway Dr. Ellie.

[@Ozgipsy]

Thanks Ellie, I’ve been intimidated by this one. I want to know more about “…one becomes a woman”.

[@robebkk5873]

Skirt topic reminds me that commoners (both male+female) in some part of South India and South East Asia used to bear chest and wear loincloth. Colonization sent an urgent message to separate menswear and womenswear.

[@youtubeaccount2429]

Outright false in case of South India. Just read the story of Nangeli. Upper caste women covered their chests while lower caste women were forced to go bare. This was not by choice but done forcibly by evil caste Hindus. The lower castes were forced to pay tax to cover their chests.

[@davidburne9477]

I can commend the more modern translation, which is way more accessible than the original version. The version translated by Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier is the superior one IMHO. The statement “one is not born, but rather becomes, woman” is one of the great observations of modern gender study, shooting down the essentialist theory in favour of a constructionist argument(s).

[@doc.lightplayer8438]

i loved the final blooper hehe

[@doc.lightplayer8438]

felt like a human talking, less robot... i also like robots , anyways :P

[@elleh3495]

any thoughts on why the word "sex" has been replaced by "gender"? is it repulsion of the actual word "sex" or is it because people want to think they are the same thing?

[@WilliamofOckham990]

It’s because it is needlessly confusing to have the same word for two things. Sex is your natural born reproductive organs.

[@doc.lightplayer8438]

To me, this book is pretty current....

[@Redrios]

the fact you cited the by translator-edition at the beginning upgraded your position to Première from my male gayze pov

[@leftmit9217]

Wow, the foundation of democracy, so deep …

[@gnnrclvrt]

If a woman has a beard, is she not marked as masculine in a way? Or even if she is bald, that is generally a masculine mark and would stand out on a woman more strikingly, no? Or if she is like really really muscular. I feel like the pants example is not solid enough to hold the weight that the argument requires - specifically, that women are ‘unessential’, meaning, I think, lacking in an independent essence which is not derivative from men. For example many men have long hair now and it is not particularly marked. The feminine has definitely been explicitly labeled as Other, for example by Levinas, but that determination is based on attributes like ‘modesty’ which constitutes a positive, non-derivative essence of the feminine. Certainly the adam and eve story is good supporting evidence however

[@TheD3cline]

I think the pants argument sucks too, the whole theory is held up by selective examples.

[@SomebodyLikeXeo]

@@TheD3clineHave you read The Second Sex?

[@BIKASHKUMAR-gh7cz]

thanks a lot

[@anthonyw2931]

your videos are gems to be savored and cherished for a long time to come. The subjugation of women (by extension racism) is never a natural thing. 6:29: doesn't qualify nor co-relate this social failing. But I understand the sentiment because of the wording used in genesis of woman being subordinate to man (but that's after the Fall) and not after creation. Furthermore, even that statement is generally misunderstood and therefore used as a justification. Woman was created last, and not from mud like man. In context, she was created with a purpose but also an 'improvement' of man. But to understand this very simplified statement, is to know God. And to know God, you have to have faith, etc. Group identity hostile has plagued humanity since the beginning (see tribes) and it plays out in gender issues. Ironic, since we thrive when we depend on each other.

[@michaelvandenheuvel317]

You always more I see.

[@gabrielidusogie9189]

I can’t keep buying books.

[@danielthomas8682]

Just one more...

[@alexandersumarokov5901]

I'm confused, its part of practical or theoretical philosophy, ontology or gnosiology then? is it possible have knowledge what is it woman without been woman? Have I rights to judge if I am man? There are not such thing like two the same men, how possible can it be the same man and woman?

[@fede2]

I wonder if this topic will cause the comment section to be swarmed with reactionary anti-intellectuals airing out their anxieties over a changing world in the form of nasty and bitter tirades... Nah!

[@OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy]

Hell is other people in the KZbin comments

[@abeguy7981]

@@OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy It's better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven.... Well if majority readers are critics, then you can't help it

[@patmaloney5735]

I find your comment absurd in its pessimism. It's the kind of thing that reinforces the illusory barriers of our conflicts and catalyzes the brewing conflicts between unreconciled philosophies. What you contributed was like a person saying now that we have home we just have to wait for the lepers to move next door. Instead you could ready clean rags or make your home protected. What ever those people have that you disdain so, is a real thing. And it's up to you to have the fortitude to cope with it until you can solve it.

[@patmaloney5735]

@@OverthinkPodcastPhilosophy No it's not. And as a blue collar non post secondary idiot I feel I should reply. You have an immense privilege in your role in life, negativity like that is absurdly irresponsible, I have screenshots innumerable comments I find that are profound and insightful. Which is your domain, the profound and insightful. I'll go bang nails, if you ever need me to explain hell to you I'll do so, but it's not suffering, its realization.

[@fede2]

@@patmaloney5735 You might have a point if we were starting from a blank slate and swarming reactionary sentiments online when it comes to delicate topics like this one were unheard of, but I get the feeling this might be your first rodeo.

[@bertiebassat5545]

Othering is prevalent, so primarily othering as simply the concept of any other consciousness interacting with one’s own. Then we have a secondary example given here, the male viewing the female as basically a non essential and themselves as an essential, othering them and prescribing a subservient role, fixing them left of a neutral stance, therefore handicapped, it does indeed seem very patriarchal and more prevalent in the past. But the othering process is prevalent between both the sexes, it is maybe even essential, the other is often perceived as the one that will complete one’s own psyche, if there is no other, essentially is there a you, it’s the hall of mirrors of others reflecting the self. It must of suited females to play out the reflective process, until society evolved to a point that it was more a burden than a safety, some sort of straight jacket to be discarded. Fundamentally where does this evolution from animal to conscious sexed species lead, intellectually no sex assigned but with unique biological drives and I guess subsequent variance in the sexes psyche, have we evolved intellectually to be incompatible with our own biology, incompatible with each other, have we became the other to our more primate self, split, fragmented and insular.

[@suejackson2566]

hi so this means homosexuells can be trained to be "normal"? did you ever heard about lilith being the first women for adam? maybe its a translation error that its not the rib. what if it was a part? not "the bad" part. just a piece. also i`m reading now a book about caroline schlegel and her life in her times and the circle of all important philosophers at that point. so there is another point that that duality stuff about me and not me is from fichte and not from hegel.

[@latetodagame1892]

I wear women's pants.

[@andrewsoukup7852]

Goddamnit this shit is cool

[@bonggojbihonggo5436]

❤❤ 🇧🇩

[@WiltshireHare]

Her surname is de Beauvoir! Not Beauvoir

[@uknow2908]

Interesting thoughts... I guess it takes work to rethink identity and character of sexes. I guess, it's kind of common thing to say that during evolution when from one - two genders have sparked - of course pregnancy made women vulnerable. And the snowball got rolling basically with excuses afterwards. Technically I don't think there are women/men muscles or bones, for example. So, if it could be possible in old times, both genders could hunt, chop wood etc. I'd also like to note that, sure, women were living in a sometimes cruel, objectifying environment, in a suppression.. Still from this stage of society they've gained better emotional awareness, psychology skills, intuition, child care skills, embrasing peace, usually they care more about their and others' health. YES I understand that it's kind of stereotipical, and I don't want to offend or put anyone in limits, and I'm sorry if I did. My point is that - experience, even traumatic one, resulted in unique! skills that can be shared with a whole biome. It raises another question - why Nature wasn't satisfied with one gender and just copy pasting? Did idea of consciousnesses interaction win over competitors? I think, we're kind of superior on Earth, but vulnerable to viruses - life forms who have still 1 gender. And, welp, where are we going from here. Many things to think of.

[@madisonking8057]

As A man i don't csre so much about the whats of state of womanhood and more about why is the state of womanhood still the way it is.

[@ziloj-perezivat]

I'm last

[@Margothic]

I disagree

[@jjp1220]

Barbie and philosophy brought me here.

[@brendanbutler1238]

Physically men are the leaders inasmuch as they are stronger, sexually they are the givers and women the receivers, in that sense, nature primarily determines the relations between men and women and culture builds upon nature. Then culture changes as societies develop, physical strength becomes less important for survival etc. But men and women are still of equal value, being a leader doesn't make you intrinsically more valuable, both man and woman are necessary parts of a whole called humanity.

[@oraetlabora1922]

What a dangerous book that is.

[@jadenogwayo5688]

oh shut up

[@oraetlabora1922]

@@jadenogwayo5688 Are you trying to take my freedom of speech away from me?

[@buried4430]

To some yes

[@patmaloney5735]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJWnhplne7t9Y9k EDIT: People do what they do With sincere respect for the female gender and its universal dignity and value, I can assure you that although history and societal perceptions suggest the Male is both positive and neutral and the female, negative(and oppressed). That both are both. Being a man is hard, its costly and men's struggles are often overlooked from the nature of being a man (shutting up, hardening up and getting on) and so it never receives its voice. But I've lived it. I've lived the alienation from both sexes, professionals and institutions because I am perceived differently. I am better spoken than most men I know and yet feel I lack the economy of meaning to express it without misunderstandings. I admire the suffrage movement and have read about feminism since I was a teenager. Truth and dignity are universal, and so it truth should be seen clearly and dignity given freely. From me to you and you to me.