Although mothers might seem all-powerful to children, girls learn over time that it is actually their fathers who have power over everything. Thus, although they might mature faster, they are also stuck in this state for the rest of their lives, while boys get to explore and grow over time.

However, they learn that women are limited to these kinds of chores. They are given responsibilities in the house earlier on than boys. This analysis differs from Freud’s theory of “penis envy,” which assumes that girls are born feeling like they are missing something because they do not have a penis.Īs they enter puberty, de Beauvoir believes girls run up against limitations that do not exist for boys. They are also more attention-seeking because they do not have a single body part on which they can focus their attention and pride, so they desire adults’ attention on their bodies as a whole-they make themselves into objects. They cannot project themselves into any body part, the way boys fixate on a penis as an external and important organ, so they tend to compensate by playing with dolls. On the other hand, girls’ sexuality is neither praised nor acknowledged, which leaves them more confused and often leads them to wish they were boys. She believes that adults value and praise a boy’s sexuality in compensation for his earlier weaning this teaches him to identify his sexuality with his independence and transcendence. Although this is initially more painful for boys, it also shows them that they are more deserving or respect while indicating to girls that they must rely on protection and are considered weaker than boys.ĭe Beauvoir considers the question of how children’s genital differences shape their identities. It is only through puberty and the differential treatment of adults that they begin to behave differently and become “women.” The process of being weaned, or separated, from parents is part of what shapes boys and girls differently: whereas girls are treated more gently for a longer time, boys are quickly taught to be independent and more active.

So, for example, she explains that girls tend to show the same aptitudes and attitudes as boys until the age of twelve or so.

Whereas Freud believed that women think in certain ways because of their anatomy, de Beauvoir believes they only come to think in these ways over time, based on how they are socialized by adults and peers. Her central claim is that girls are not born into womanhood, but rather are raised to identify with certain traits we associate with “femininity” and being a “woman.” This claim distinguishes de Beauvoir’s theories from Freud’s.

In the first chapter of Volume II, Part 1, de Beauvoir analyzes how girls are typically treated throughout their childhood.

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir