When Simone de Beauvoir died in 1986, French TV news described her as a “symbol of women’s liberation,” but they couldn’t resist bracketing her name with that of Jean-Paul Sartre, her lifelong partner. Almost four decades later, Beauvoir’s reputation as a pioneering feminist thinker is well established. The main challenge she faces today is misunderstanding rather than neglect.
Emma McNicol joins Long Reads to discuss Beauvoir’s work and legacy. Emma is a research fellow at the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre.
Read her piece for Jacobin, "Simone de Beauvoir Understood the Link Between Gender and Class Oppression," here: https://jacobin.com/2023/06/simone-de-beauvoir-second-sex-socialism-class
Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.