• Log In

The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast

A Philosophy Podcast and Philosophy Blog

Subscribe on Android Spotify Google Podcasts audible patreon
  • Home
  • Podcast
    • PEL Network Episodes
    • Publicly Available PEL Episodes
    • Paywalled and Ad-Free Episodes
    • PEL Episodes by Topic
    • Nightcap
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Pretty Much Pop
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • (sub)Text
    • Phi Fic Podcast
    • Combat & Classics
    • Constellary Tales
  • Blog
  • About
    • PEL FAQ
    • Meet PEL
    • About Pretty Much Pop
    • Philosophy vs. Improv
    • Nakedly Examined Music
    • Meet Phi Fic
    • Listener Feedback
    • Links
  • Join
    • Become a Citizen
    • Join Our Mailing List
    • Log In
  • Donate
  • Store
    • Episodes
    • Swag
    • Everything Else
    • Cart
    • Checkout
    • My Account
  • Contact
  • Mailing List

Ep. 232: Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex” (Part One)

December 23, 2019 by Mark Linsenmayer 2 Comments

http://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/partiallyexaminedlife/PEL_ep_232pt1_12-2-19.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:53 — 49.4MB)

On Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949): the intro, conclusion, “Woman’s Situation and Character” and parts of “Lived Experience," with guest Jennifer Hansen.

According to Beauvoir, Woman (the "kept" woman of history that was still common in her time and not unheard of now) is conceived of by society (and hence by herself) as "Other." Men created society, own all the property, and get to make the decisions. A woman's life revolves around marriage and child-bearing; she doesn't get to have any freely chosen projects and thus never gets to participate as a Subject in the existential quandaries of existence. She's already defined as an object, as a thing-in-itself. This 800-page text goes into great detail about the situation of women and about the historical-cultural factors behind it.

We get into the existential/Hegelian analysis of this situation, into her use of Freudian developmental explanations (well, she's actually reacting against Freud by insisting that gender differences result from social forces, not biology, but talking about child development in a vaguely Freudian way is still relevant), the source of stereotypes of women, and what might be involved with addressing the more damaging differences in the way boys and girls are brought up.

We read the Borde/Malovany-Chevallier translation, which you can purchase or try this version someone posted online.

The sections we read using that edition are:

1. Intro: p. 23–39
2. Vol II, Ch 10 Woman's Situation and Character: p. 724–753
3. Conclusion: p. 848–863
4. Parts the other chapters of Vol. 2 Lived Experience:

a. Introduction: p. 328
b. Ch. 1 Childhood: p. 330–334, 341–343, 349–352, 359
c. Ch. 2 The Girl: p. 395–396
d. Ch. 5 The Married Woman: p. 502–504
e. Ch. 7 Social Life: p. 649–660
f. Ch. 9 From Maturity to Old Age: p. 702–704

We're planning a second session for ep. 234 dealing with a couple of additional chapters.

If you enjoy this, listen to our previous Beauvoir episodes on The Ethics of Ambiguity, including Jenny's previous appearance on the Aftershow. Read things that Jenny has written.

Continue with part 2 or get the unbroken Citizen Edition. Please support PEL!

Image by Corey Mohler.

Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather

Filed Under: Podcast Episodes Tagged With: existentialism, feminism, philosophy podcast, psychology, Simone de Beauvoir

Trackbacks

  1. Mark Lint’s PEL Network Holiday Party 2020: Merry Chatting and Songs says:
    December 24, 2020 at 9:02 am

    […] Listen to Jenny Hansen on PEL talking Simon De Beauvoir. […]

    Reply
  2. Mark Lint’s PEL Network Holiday Party 2020: Merry Chatting and Songs says:
    December 24, 2020 at 9:40 am

    […] Listen to Jenny Hansen on PEL talking Simon De Beauvoir. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

PEL Live Show 2023

Brothers K Live Show

Citizenship has its Benefits

Become a PEL Citizen
Become a PEL Citizen, and get access to all paywalled episodes, early and ad-free, including exclusive Part 2's for episodes starting September 2020; our after-show Nightcap, where the guys respond to listener email and chat more causally; a community of fellow learners, and more.

Rate and Review

Nightcap

Listen to Nightcap
On Nightcap, listen to the guys respond to listener email and chat more casually about their lives, the making of the show, current events and politics, and anything else that happens to come up.

Subscribe to Email Updates

Select list(s):

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Support PEL

Buy stuff through Amazon and send a few shekels our way at no extra cost to you.

Tweets by PartiallyExLife

Recent Comments

  • John Heath on PEL Eulogies Nightcap Late March 2023
  • Randy Strader on Ep. 309: Wittgenstein On Certainty (Part Two)
  • Wes Alwan on PEL Nightcap February 2023
  • Kunal on Why Don’t We Like Idealism?
  • Ronald Cogen on Ep. 311: Understanding the Dao De Jing (Part One)

About The Partially Examined Life

The Partially Examined Life is a philosophy podcast by some guys who were at one point set on doing philosophy for a living but then thought better of it. Each episode, we pick a text and chat about it with some balance between insight and flippancy. You don’t have to know any philosophy, or even to have read the text we’re talking about to (mostly) follow and (hopefully) enjoy the discussion

Become a PEL Citizen!

As a PEL Citizen, you’ll have access to a private social community of philosophers, thinkers, and other partial examiners where you can join or initiate discussion groups dedicated to particular readings, participate in lively forums, arrange online meet-ups for impromptu seminars, and more. PEL Citizens also have free access to podcast transcripts, guided readings, episode guides, PEL music, and other citizen-exclusive material. Click here to join.

Blog Post Categories

  • (sub)Text
  • Aftershow
  • Announcements
  • Audiobook
  • Book Excerpts
  • Citizen Content
  • Citizen Document
  • Citizen News
  • Close Reading
  • Combat and Classics
  • Constellary Tales
  • Exclude from Newsletter
  • Featured Ad-Free
  • Featured Article
  • General Announcements
  • Interview
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Misc. Philosophical Musings
  • Nakedly Examined Music Podcast
  • Nakedly Self-Examined Music
  • NEM Bonus
  • Not School Recording
  • Not School Report
  • Other (i.e. Lesser) Podcasts
  • PEL Music
  • PEL Nightcap
  • PEL's Notes
  • Personal Philosophies
  • Phi Fic Podcast
  • Philosophy vs. Improv
  • Podcast Episode (Citizen)
  • Podcast Episodes
  • Pretty Much Pop
  • Reviewage
  • Song Self-Exam
  • Supporter Exclusive
  • Things to Watch
  • Vintage Episode (Citizen)
  • Web Detritus

Follow:

Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | Apple Podcasts

Copyright © 2009 - 2023 · The Partially Examined Life, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Copyright Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in