Editing Simone de Beauvoir (section)

==Legacy==
Beauvoir's ''[[The Second Sex]]'' is considered a foundational work in the history of feminism. Beauvoir had denied being feminist multiple times but ultimately admitted that she was one after ''The Second Sex'' became crucial in the world of feminism.<ref name="Bergoffen"/> The work has had a profound influence, opening the way for [[second-wave feminism]] in the [[Second wave feminism in the United States|United States]], [[Second wave feminism in Canada|Canada]], [[Second wave feminism in Australia|Australia]], and around the world.<ref name="SEP-Bergoffen-2010" /> Although Beauvoir has been quoted as saying "There is a certain unreasonable demand that I find a little stupid because it would enclose me, immobilize me completely in a sort of feminist concrete block," her works on feminism have paved the way for all future feminists.<ref name="Simone de Beauvoir: An Interview">{{Cite journal |last1=Simons |first1=Margaret A. |last2=Benjamin |first2=Jessica |last3=de Beauvoir |first3=Simone |date=1979 |title=Simone de Beauvoir: An Interview |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3177599 |journal=Feminist Studies |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=330 |doi=10.2307/3177599 |jstor=3177599|hdl=2027/spo.0499697.0005.209 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The founders of the second-wave read ''The Second Sex'' in translation, including [[Kate Millett]], [[Shulamith Firestone]], [[Juliet Mitchell]], [[Ann Oakley]] and [[Germaine Greer]].  All acknowledged their profound debt to Beauvoir, including visiting her in France, consulting with her at crucial moments, and dedicating works to her.<ref name="Fallaize-1998" />  [[Betty Friedan]], whose 1963 book ''[[The Feminine Mystique]]'' is often regarded as the opening salvo of second-wave feminism in the United States, later said that reading ''The Second Sex'' in the early 1950s<ref name="Fallaize-1998">{{cite book |last=Fallaize |first=Elizabeth |title=Simone de Beauvoir: A Critical Reader |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HU71rmuh7rgC&pg=PA9 |year=2007 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-14703-3 |pages=9 |oclc=600674472 |orig-year=1st pub. 1998}}</ref> "led me to whatever original analysis of women's existence I have been able to contribute to the Women's movement and its unique politics. I looked to Simone de Beauvoir for a philosophical and intellectual authority."<ref name="Friedan-1975">{{cite magazine |last= |first= |date=14 June 1975 |title=Sex, Society, and the Female Dilemma: A Dialogue between Simone de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan |url= |magazine=Saturday Review |publisher= |page=16}} as quoted in {{sfnlink|Fallaize|2007|p=9}}.</ref>

At one point in the early 1970s, Beauvoir also aligned herself with the French League for Women's Rights as a means to campaign and fight against sexism in French society.<ref name="Simone de Beauvoir: An Interview"/> Beauvoir's influence goes beyond just her impact on second-wave founders, and extends to numerous aspects of feminism, including literary criticism, history, philosophy, theology, criticism of scientific discourse, and [[psychotherapy]].<ref name="SEP-Bergoffen-2010" /> When Beauvoir first became involved with the feminism movement, one of her objectives was legalizing abortion.<ref name="Simone de Beauvoir: An Interview"/> [[Donna Haraway]] wrote that, "despite important differences, all the modern feminist meanings of gender have roots in Simone de Beauvoir's claim that 'one is not born a woman [one becomes one].'"<ref name="SEP-Bergoffen-2010" /> This "most famous feminist sentence ever written"<ref name="Mann-2017">{{cite book |last=Mann |first=Bonnie |title=On ne naît pas femme : on le devient: The Life of a Sentence |date=20 July 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-067801-2 |editor1=Bonnie Mann |pages=11 |chapter=Introduction |quote=...the sentence in question is '''On ne naît pas femme : on le devient'''—in other words, the most famous feminist sentence ever written... Surely if any sentence deserves a biography, or multiple biographies, it is this sentence that has inspired generations of women. |editor2=Martina Ferrari |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KYstDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT11}}</ref> is echoed in the title of [[Monique Wittig]]'s 1981 essay ''One Is Not Born a Woman''.<ref name="Fallaize-1998" />{{sfn|Butler|1990|p=112|ps=&nbsp; 'One is not born a woman.' Monique Wittig echoed that phrase in an article by the same name, published in ''Feminist Issues'' (1:1).}}<ref name="McCann-Kim-2003">{{cite book |title=Feminist Theory Reader: Local and Global Perspectives |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-415-93153-3 |editor1-last=McCann |editor1-first=Carole Ruth |pages=249 |chapter=25 One Is Not Born a Woman |oclc=465003710 |quote=As individuals as well we question 'woman', which for us, as for Simone de Beauvoir, is only a myth. She said: 'One is not born, but becomes a woman.' |editor2-last=Kim |editor2-first=Seung-Kyung |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5uCeWIzdFwkC&pg=PA249}}</ref> [[Judith Butler]] took the concept a step further, arguing that Beauvoir's choice of the verb ''to become'' suggests that [[gender performativity|gender is a process]], constantly being renewed in an ongoing interaction between the surrounding culture and individual choice.<ref name="Fallaize-1998" /><ref name="Bell-1999">{{cite book |last=Bell |first=Vikki |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zZJ7bfoPSksC&pg=PA135 |title=Performativity & Belonging |date=25 October 1999 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-6523-7 |series=Theory, Culture & Society |location=London |page=135 |oclc=796008155 |quote=Moreover, Beauvoir's use of the term 'becoming' leads Butler to wonder further that '<span style="color:darkgreen;font-family:Times New Roman, serif">...if gender is something that one becomes – but can never be – then gender itself is a kind of becoming or activity, and that gender ought not to be conceived as a noun or a substantial thing or a static cultural marker, but rather as an incessant and repeated action of some sort.</span>' {{sfnlink|Butler|1990|p=12}}.}}</ref>

In Paris, [[Place Jean-Paul-Sartre-et-Simone-de-Beauvoir]] is a square where Beauvoir's legacy lives on. It is one of the few squares in Paris to be officially named after a couple. The pair lived close to the square at 42 [[rue Bonaparte]].