“Constructed Women”

Feminism in THE SECOND SEX

Abstract

Simone de Beauvoir (1908 - 1986), as the pioneer and founder of feminist literary criticism, her feminist thoughts and Literary theory have had a profound impact on the development of women's movement and feminist literary theory around the world. Beauvoir is “one of the most important women of the 20th century.” His book The Second Sex covers the cultural content of philosophy, history, literature, biology, ancient myths and customs, and discusses the actual women’s situation, status and rights in the historical evolution from Primitive society to modern society. In the book, linguistic theories and methods are applied to define and differentiate gender concepts, and a detailed study is conducted on the shaping and influence of daily life, religion, and taboo language on women’s psychology and consciousness. Exploring the relationship between gender and culture is an important dimension that reflects a conscious awareness of language and culture. Beauvoir’s language research has provided important theoretical inspiration for the development of feminism, especially postmodern feminist criticism, and has a transitional significance that connects the past and the future. This article takes The Second Sex as the research text and conducts a feminist analysis of Beauvoir’s linguistic theory from three aspects: The first part elaborates on feminism by analyzing Beauvoir’s application of linguistic methods and research on multiple linguistic issues, criticizing the traditional patriarchal cultural tradition. The second part compares Woolf’s feminist language views and introduces the different focuses of language research between the two. The third part elaborates on the impact of Beauvoir’s language research on feminist criticism and postmodern feminism.