Simone de Beauvoir, Why I am a Feminist, 6

Transcript by Gabrielle Dubois of a 1975 television interview #6

Question:
You mentioned the letters and responses to The Second Sex. When it first came out, even if it wasn’t seen as a militant work, it was an intellectual scandal for a lot of people. How was The Second Sex received?

Simone de Beauvoir:
In France, the backbiting went wild. Many men were extremely outraged. Even men whom I thought were left wing, liberal, egalitarian, were upset by this book.

Question:
Because it challenged their supremacy?

Simone de Beauvoir:
That’s right. And because I “ridiculed the French male” as Camus (lien ) said. The American reacted much more positively. Perhaps due to a greater sense of equality between men and women. On the whole, women reacted positively, not so much the year it was published, but gradually, as its significance was explored, accepted, understood, and I began to receive all the letters I mentioned.

Question:
I think nearly 750,000 copies were sold in the US alone?

Simone de Beauvoir:
Oh, at least. Now it’s up to 1 million, in paperback.

Question:
In France, it took off…

Simone de Beauvoir:
In France it was successful right away, but I couldn’t tell you the exact figures. Now that it is in paperback, it’s gained more readers. But I was disappointed by the negative reaction of men I thought were for equality and by the communists as a whole who spit on the book. The newspaper, Les Lettres Françaises, said female factory workers had no use for it. That’s false. All the problems I talk about concern working-class women perhaps even more than upper-class women.

Question:
Why are communists against these ideas?

Simone de Beauvoir:
They’re less so now. The history of communism (lien) and women is a complicated story. The communists consider women’s problems to be secondary, that the conflict between sexes is secondary with regard to the class conflict, which is primary. Jeannette Vermeersch was against abortion for a long time. They’ve softened their position, but in general, they see women’s problems are subordinate to class problems. They say that if there’s a revolution and society changes, things will automatically change for women.

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Towards n°7# Simone de Beauvoir