The Second Sex

TRANSLATED BY CONSTANCE BORDE AND SHEILA MALOVANY-CHEVALLIER ANNOTATED AND INTRODUCED BY MARTINE REID

'Everyone who cares about freedom and justice for women should readThe Second Sex'Guardian

Simone de Beauvoir famously wrote, 'One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman'. In this groundbreaking work of feminism she examines the limits of female freedom and explodes our deeply ingrained beliefs about femininity. Liberation, she argues, entails challenging traditional perceptions of the social relationship between the sexes and, crucially, in achieving economic independence.

Drawing on sociology, anthropology and biology,The Second Sexis as important and relevant today as when it was first published in 1949.

Simone de Beauvoirwas born in Paris in 1908. In 1929 she became the youngest person ever to obtain theagrégationin philosophy at the Sorbonne, placing second to Jean-Paul Sartre. She taught at the lycées at Marseille and Rouen from 19311937, and in Paris from 19381943. After the war, she emerged as one of the leaders of the existentialist movement, working with Sartre onLes Temps Mordernes. The author of several books includingThe Mandarins(1957) which was awarded the Prix Goncourt, de Beauvoir was one of the most influential thinkers of her generation. She died in 1986.

Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier have lived in Paris for over forty years and are both graduates of Rutgers University, New Jersey. Borde was on the faculty of the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and has been chair and vice-chair of American Democrats Abroad. Malovany-Chevallier was a full- time faculty member at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and continues to teach American literature. They have been translating books and articles on social science, art and feminist literature for twenty-five years and have jointly authored numerous books in French on subjects ranging from grammar to politics to American cooking.

Required reading for anyone who believes in the equality of the sexes.

A long awaited, highly acclaimed new translation of Simone De Beauvoir's landmark work.