In the following essay, Simons explores elements of Marxist, socialist, and psychoanalytic theory in Beauvoir's feminist philosophy. According to Simons, "Beauvoir, in The Second Sex, laid the theoretical foundations for a radical feminist movement of the future and defined a feminist political philosophy of lasting importance."

In the following essay, Pilardi explores Beauvoir's philosophical investigations into female eroticism and passivity in The Second Sex. According to Pilardi, "in The Second Sex and elsewhere, a woman is described by Beauvoir as so totally merged with her erotic experience that her own body seldom appears to her as anything but a fevered 'receiving machine.'"

In the following essay, Moi discusses Beauvoir's philosophical analysis of female oppression in The Second Sex. "For Simone de Beauvoir," writes Moi, "women are fundamentally characterized by ambiguity and conflict."

In the following essay, Houlding discusses the influence of the Nazi Occupation of France on Beauvoir's intellectual development and philosophical insights in The Second Sex. According to Houlding, "Through her exposure to the nature of women's everyday lives during the Occupation, Beauvoir first began to perceive the active construction of femininity."

In the following essay, Ascher examines Beauvoir's views concerning freedom, morality, and women's oppression as delineated in The Second Sex and The Ethics of Ambiguity.

While all the ambivalences in [Simone de Beauvoir's] work may not be attributable to Sartre, so much of her argument is based on Sartrean concepts, so many of the very words and metaphors—particularly those describing female sexuality and existence—she chooses recall his, that it is impossible not to sense his influence throughout The Second Sex. After all, no one, least of all de Beauvoir herself, would deny that what could be considered the central concept of The Second Sex—the...

The somber thesis of The Second Sex that it is a malediction to be a woman finds substantial support in [Simone de Beauvoir's] novels inasmuch as the feminine characters are preponderantly unhappy, divided and neurotic creatures. Though they do not consciously reflect on their fate and submission qua woman, most are nonetheless conspicuously marked by a flaw; one suspects that their suffering derives in part from their initial misfortune of being female. The pessimism of The Second Sex is thus reinfo...