Simone De Beauvoir Is a Hero Persuasive Essay Example

Simone de beauvoir set off second wave feminism with her novels. To her and many others’ beliefs, women do not have to be mothers. Women do not have to do housework and not get an outside job. Women do not have to live up to men’s perfect standards. All of this happened because of Simone de beauvoir. 

Simone de beauvoir is an everyday hero because of her feminism through her novels, and how she demonstrated feminism and impacted society with her most prominent book, “The Second Sex”. That set off the Women’s Liberation movement. 

One reason Simone de Beauvoir is a hero is because she set the groundwork for second-wave feminism. In France of 1949, de Beauvoir published a hugely influential book, called “The Second Sex”. This set the groundwork for the Women’s Liberation movement. According to Laura Mcguire, “One of the most famous lines from that work is: ‘one is not born, but rather becomes a woman.’ What I think Beauvoir meant is that the roles we associate with women are not given to them at birth, but rather socially constructed” (Mcguire). The quote shows de beauvoir’s heroic quality because second wave feminism is about women (or the “second sex”) being discriminated, and being equal. France of 1949, de Beauvoir said that women are always kept from “mens knowledge” and stuck with housework and motherhood. “Just as I do not believe that women are inferior to men by nature, nor do I believe that they are their natural superiors either,” (Napikoski). During  an interview with de Beauvoir about “The Second Sex,” she had mentioned this. She set off feminism because people finally realized no one was better that the other, all should be equal. De Beauvoir has set the groundwork for second-wave feminism by pointing these things out to many people, and saying how important they are. 

The second reason Simone de Beauvoir is a hero is because of her wisdom on feminism and how women have been oppressed for a long time. In a 1976 interview, de Beauvoir stated that she does not believe men are the natural superiors. As stated by Napikoski, “According to de Beauvoir, this was just another way for men to control women, by telling women they are better off in their cosmic, spiritual “eternal feminine,” kept away from mens knowledge and left without all the men’s concerns like work, careers, and power” (Napikoski). Proved by the quote,  de Beauvoir is pointing out why second wave feminism is important, because of what men have forced and taught women to do for such a long time. During 1949, de Beauvoir wrote Le Deuxième Sexe, 2 vol. (The Second Sex) and it was all about womens oppression. “Le Deuxieme Sexe, 2 vol. (1949, The Second Sex), a scholarly and passionate plea for the abolition of what she called the myth of the ‘eternal feminine.’ it became a classic of feminist literature,” (Simone de Beauvoir). This impacted society because her book was based off of women’s oppression and feminism in general. She has written 34 books, and many articles on feminism. De Beauvoir’s work on feminism focuses on the opression of women and femnimity being taught. 

Simone de Beauvoir established the idea for women’s oppression and feminism, and countless of others followed her on those ideas. Based on her actions, women now have more  of a voice than ever before.