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A photograph of French writer, activist and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. Photo by NiaVasileva.

Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Simone de Beauvoir

Simone Lucie de Beauvoir was a renowned French philosopher, writer, and feminist activist. She however, did not consider herself a philosopher in her lifetime.

However, her works and ideas have born great significance to feminist theory. She wrote widely on social and political issues.

Some of her works include novels, autobiographies, essays, memoirs, and biographies. Simone de Beauvoir is known for her famed 1949 treatise ‘The Second Sex’.

It offers a critical analysis of women’s oppression and forms a foundation for modern feminism.

She won a couple of awards including the 1978 Austrian State Prize for European Literature.

Simone is also known for her lifelong relationship with the French philosopher, Jean-Paul Satre. Have a look at the top 10 outstanding facts about Simone de Beauvoir!

1. Simone de Beauvoir was born into a rich Â鶹APPian family

She was born on 9 January 1908 into a bourgeois Â鶹APPian family. Her father Georges Bertrand de Beauvoir, was a lawyer.

Her mother, Francoise Beauvoir was the daughter of a wealthy banker. Her younger sister Helene was born two years later.

The two were sent to a prestigious convent school. However, at the onset of World War I, the family lost much of their fortune.

2. She first practiced teaching

Simone could not rely on her family due to the financial strain. She had to find the means to earn a living.

Upon completing her practice teaching requirements in secondary school, she first worked with Maurice Merleau-Pont and Claude Levi.

She taught at the lycee level from 1929 to 1943. She taught at Lycee Montgrand, Lycee Jeanne-d’Arc and Lycee Moliere.

3. She was the youngest person to ever pass the ‘²¹²µ°ù±ð²µ²¹³Ù¾±´Ç²Ô’ exam

Simone studied widely and was quite knowledgeable and critical. Her father described her as a daughter who ‘thought like a man’.

After completing her secondary education, she studied mathematics at the Institut Catholique de Â鶹APP and literature at the Institute Sainte-Marie.

She then studied political philosophy at the Sorbonne.

Although not officially enrolled at the Ecole Normale Superieure, she sat in on their courses in preparation for the ‘²¹²µ°ù±ð²µ²¹³Ù¾±´Ç²Ô’ in philosophy.

It is a highly competitive postgraduate examination in the French public education system.

Simone came second after Jean-Paul Satre, with a narrow gap, becoming the youngest person ever to pass the exam. She was 21.

4. Simone met Jean-Paul Satre while studying

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Photo by Unknown author.

Jean-Paul Satre was a French existentialist philosopher and political activist. Simone met him while studying at the Ecole Normale.

They became quite close friends and Satre intended a romantic relationship.

Simone was reluctant at first. She could not afford her dowry. In 1929 however, the two became a couple.

 They did not get married in the traditional sense of marrying at the time. They were in a lifelong partnership that was sexual but not exclusive.

Simone’s relationships were open throughout her lifetime and this sometimes caused controversy. Her description of love relationships in her works portrays her lifestyle and ideals.

Simone and Satre maintained their relationship until Satre’s death. The two influenced each other’s works.

5. She abandoned her Catholic faith to become an atheist

Simone was brought up in a devout Catholic household. Her mother was a staunch catholic and she had insisted on Simone attending a convent school.

Simone was indeed religious as a child and even considered becoming a nun at some point.

However, she began questioning her faith in her early teen years after witnessing tragedies happening in the world.

She eventually abandoned her religious faith and remained an atheist for the rest of her life. Simone, in defending her decision once stated that ‘Faith allows an evasion of those difficulties which the atheist confronts honestly.’

6. Simone is known for her feminist work ‘The Second Sex’

Beauvoir, Le Deuxième Sexe. Photo by Unknown author.

The Second Sex is arguably the most famous and groundbreaking of Simone’s work on feminism. It was first published in 1949 in French as Le Deuxieme Sexe.

Simone famously states in the book that ‘One is not born but becomes a woman’. The statement came to be known as the sex-gender distinction, distinguishing between the biological sex and the social construction of gender.

She satirically defines women as ‘the second sex’ due to their assumed inferiority to men.

She argues that women are equally capable of choice as men, and they can choose to elevate themselves beyond the mere ‘other’ position that society has affixed to their being.

The book has been considered a significant and groundbreaking contribution to the feminist movement.

7. She was active in France’s women’s liberation movement

Simone de Beauvoir in 1967. Photo by Moshe Milner.

Simone had a bold belief in women’s equality in education, economic independence, and other spheres of life.

She publicly declared herself a feminist in a 1972 interview with a French news magazine; Le Nouvel Observateur.

 She wrote the Manifesto of the 343 in 1971. It was a French petition signed by 343 women claiming they had had an abortion, as an act of civil disobedience.

Simone signed it too, although the claim of her abortion is contested. It called for the legalization of abortion to avail safe health services for women who needed them.

The campaign paved way for the passing of the law legalizing abortion in France in 1974.

8. Her personal life was quite controversial

Her open sexual relationships caused scandal and much controversy. Sometimes, her sexual life shrouded her academic achievements and reputation.

She was bisexual and her involvement with young women caused quite a stir. A French author, Bianca Lamblin wrote in her book ‘A Disgraceful Affair’ that during her study years at the Lycee Moliere, her teacher Simone Beauvoir had sexually exploited her.

Simone was suspended from teaching in 1943 for seducing one of her pupils Natalie Sorokin.

Simone never married or had any children. She was involved with several lovers, including the famous American author Nelson Algren.

 She wrote a novel ‘The Mandarin’s in which Algren is the character Lewis Brogan. She discusses their love life in the book quite erotically, a move that Algren did not quite approve of.

9. She is credited for several notable works

Nelson Algren, one of Simone’s lovers and a character in her novel, ‘The Mandarins’. The book won her the highest literary prize in France. Photo by Albertin.

Simone wrote essays, novels, and memoirs on a wide range of topics. Some of her most notable works include The Second Sex, The Mandarins, She Came to Stay, and Les Inseparables.

The Second Sex is groundbreaking feminist work. She Came to Stay was her first published novel.

 In The Mandarins, she describes her open relationship with American author Nelson Algren.

The book won France’s highest literary prize, the Prix Goncourt. Algren was outraged by her frank descriptions of their love life.

10. She is a recipient of numerous literary awards

Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir are welcomed by Dr. John Takman at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. Photo by Unknown author.

In 1954, she won the Prix Goncourt for her novel The Mandarins. It is the highest literary prize in France awarded to the most imaginative prose work of the year.

 In 1975, she won the Jerusalem Prize. She was awarded the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 1978.

In Â鶹APP, a square is named after Jean-Paul Satre and Simone de Beauvoir in honor of their legacy. It is one of the few to be named after a couple.