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# Simone De Beauvoir

## Basic idea

French existentialist and feminist philosopher (1908-1986). Author of *The Second Sex*; extended Sartrean existentialism into an *ethics of ambiguity* and a foundational critique of gender as a social construct.

## Key tenets

* "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman" — gender is constructed.
* Ethics of ambiguity: freedom is meaningful only when willed in solidarity with others' freedom.
* Woman has been historically defined as the Other against Man as Subject.
* Authentic existence requires resisting roles imposed by patriarchy and habit.

## Simone De Beauvoir