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One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.

Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1949)

Philosophy

The story behind the card

This sentence opens the second volume of The Second Sex (1949), in which the French philosopher and novelist Simone de Beauvoir traces how a girl is taught, step by step, to become what her society calls a woman. Drawing on existentialism, the idea that people are shaped by their choices and circumstances rather than by a fixed nature, she examined biology, myth, history, upbringing and marriage. The book caused a scandal in France, the Vatican put it on its list of forbidden books, and it became a founding text of modern feminism.

Türkçe oku
Kadın doğulmaz, kadın olunur.
Simone de Beauvoir, İkinci Cinsiyet (1949)

Bu cümle, Fransız filozof ve romancı Simone de Beauvoir'ın İkinci Cinsiyet'inin (1949) ikinci cildini açar. Beauvoir kitapta, bir kız çocuğunun toplumunun “kadın” dediği şeye adım adım nasıl dönüştürüldüğünü inceler. İnsanın sabit bir özle doğmadığını, seçimleri ve koşullarıyla biçimlendiğini savunan varoluşçuluktan yola çıkarak biyolojiyi, mitleri, tarihi, yetiştirilme biçimini ve evliliği ele alır. Kitap Fransa'da skandal yarattı, Vatikan onu yasak kitaplar listesine aldı; zamanla modern feminizmin temel metinlerinden biri oldu.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: The Second Sex
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