second sex
Subordinate gender historically
The second sex refers to women, positioned as subordinate or "other" relative to men as the default.
The phrase comes from Simone de Beauvoir's 1949 feminist treatise of the same name, which argued that women are defined not on their own terms but in relation to men.
Society has long treated women as the second sex.
- BeauvoirFrench feminist philosopher
- feminismAdvocacy for sex equality
- womanAdult female human
- otherDistinct from those mentioned
- genderSocial identity category
gender roles · male gaze · oppression · womanhood · existentialism · lived experience · Simone · femininity · inequality · patriarchy · glass ceiling · subordination · liberation · women's liberation · female · otherness · identity · body