Open Lecture November 27 - The Second Sex 70 Years

12 November 2019

This year marks 70 years since the French philosopher and author Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) published The Second Sex (1949). With its unmistakable descriptions of women's lives, the book caused an outcry. The book became a bible for feminists of the second wave and Beauvoir herself became an icon.

Its influence in feminist philosophy and gender- and sexuality studies is immeasurable. At the same time, Beauvoir's legacy is disputed. The critics claimed that she too often used the man as a role model and that she leaned on problematic and patriarchal aspects of modernity.

But are these allegations correct? The lecture places The Second Sex in its historical context and addresses philosophers that influenced Beauvoir and discusses its implications for her as a feminist philosopher.

Lecturer: Johanna Sjöstedt, historian of ideas and gender studies scholar with a master's degree from the University of Gothenburg, and grantee of the Female Swedish Academic Association's Siri Jacobsson Scholarship in 2018.

The lecture will be held in Swedish.

Time and place

Date: 2019-11-27
Time: From 18.00 to 19.30
Place: Malmström room, Humanities Library, Renströmsgatan 4

Contact: Elina Nybergh, elina.nybergh@ub.gu.se