If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory turns into a defeat.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
Legislators, priests, philosophers, writers, ans scientists have striven to show that the subordinate position of woman is willed in heaven and advantageous on earth.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques the justification of women's subordination based on religious and philosophical beliefs.
Simone De Beauvoir's quote highlights how various influential figures, including legislators, priests, philosophers, writers, and scientists, have attempted to perpetuate the notion that women's inferior status is divinely ordained and beneficial in society. This reflects a critical stance against the systemic oppression of women, emphasizing that such beliefs are not natural but rather socially constructed and upheld by those in positions of power.
Themes
WomenSubordinationOppressionPhilosophyBeliefs
In practice
Example use cases
In a lecture on gender studies, you might use this quote to illustrate how societal norms shape views on gender roles.
More from Simone De Beauvoir
All quotes →Two separate beings, in different circumstances, face to face in freedom and seeking justification of their existence through one another, will always live an adventure full of risk and promise." (p. 248)
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To catch a husband is an art; to hold him is a job.
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Sex pleasure in woman is a kind of magic spell; it demands complete abandon; if words or movements oppose the magic of caresses, the spell is broken.
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As long as there have been men and they have lived, they have all felt this tragic ambiguity of their condition, but as long as there have been philosophers and they have thought, most of them have tried to mask it.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
Few tasks are more like the torture of Sisyphus than housework, with its endless repetition: the clean becomes soiled, the soiled is made clean, over and over, day after day. The housewife wears herself out marking time: she makes nothing, simply perpetuates the present … Eating, sleeping, cleaning – the years no longer rise up towards heaven, they lie spread out ahead, grey and identical. The battle against dust and dirt is never won.
Simone De BeauvoirRead
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