Quote by: Simone de Beauvoir

Men’s economic privilege, their social value, the prestige of marriage, the usefulness of masculine support—all these encourage women to ardently want to please men. They are on the whole still in a state of serfdom. It follows that woman knows and chooses herself not as she exists for herself but as man defines her. She thus has to be described first as men dream of her since her being-for-men is one of the essential factors of her concrete condition.


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Author Bio


  • NameSimone de Beauvoir
  • DescriptionFrench writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist, and social theorist
  • AliasesSimone-Lucie-Ernestine-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir
  • BornJanuary 9, 1909
  • DiedApril 14, 1986
  • CountryFrance
  • ProfessionPolitical Philosopher; Journalist; Existentialist; Woman Of Letters; Novelist; Autobiographer; Essayist; Political Activist; Diarist; Women Letter Writer
  • WorksThe Mandarins
  • AwardsPrix Goncourt; Austrian State Prize For European Literature