de Beauvoir, Simone

French existentialist philosopher and writer Simone de Beauvoir (1908–86) wrote what is considered one of the most significant feminist works of the 20th century, The Second Sex. In it, Beauvoir presents what appears to be a controversial view of motherhood, which has been very severely criticized as well as misunderstood.

Originally published in 1949, the work examines the “woman question.” Beauvoir analyzes the concept of woman from multiple perspectives: biological, anthropological, historical, cultural, philosophical, and phenomenological. She bases her inquiry on the idea that while there is a myth of the eternal feminine, it does not constitute an essence to which one does or ought to correspond. She is dismissive of such essentialist positions.

In her chapter on biology, Beauvoir posits that the female biology determines a woman to serve the species—and while this is also true for the male, pregnancy is much more onerous for the female. Beauvoir presents a grim picture of pregnancy and childbirth, wherein the female experiences her body as other than herself; literally raped by the male and possessed by the species, she is “Tenanted by another, who battens upon her substance throughout the period of pregnancy, the female is at once herself and other than herself.” Beauvoir describes the female body as radically altered by the sexual encounter and the pregnancy that ensues, and the female loses the sense of her own self. She feels alienated. Moreover, the fact that she has to provide care for the newborn has historically been the cause of her oppression, as she has been relegated to the household to perform these nurturing tasks.

In a later chapter of The Second Sex, Beauvoir examines the figure of the Mother as it has emerged historically and culturally, beginning with a discussion of birth control and abortion. In a world where abortion was illegal and often performed at great risk to the mother, Beauvoir writes in favor of, and later militates for, the legalization of birth control and abortion. She explains it is because she wants women to be able to freely choose to be mothers.