Study of the Evolution of Feminist Thought in Simon DebBeauwa's Works

Abstract

This paper will chart the unfolding of Simone de Beauvoir's feminist philosophy, focusing especially on two of her seminal writings, The Guest and The Second Sex, each forming a backbone for her later theoretical elaboration. In this, the discussion shall engage in how de Beauvoir portrays woman as "the Other" and her criticism of the socially manufactured gender hierarchies. It thus discusses in detail the basic philosophical theories upon which her claim had stood that gender identity is something socially constructed and not a predetermined feature based upon biological elements. Secondly, it further goes on to describe her thought processes upon how age and gender interact with each other in some of her later works such as The Coming of Age and The Ceremony of Farewell. This paper seeks to underline the importance of de Beauvoir's feminist philosophy in both practice and theory, highlighting its value in contemporary debates about gender equality and women's rights. This research, in the final instance, will try to demonstrate the perduring mark left by philosophical ideas concocted by de Beauvoir on the writings of a modern feminist discourse.