Abstract
Simone de Beauvoir's Le Deuxième Sexe (first published by Gallimard, 1949) is widely recognised as the first major analysis of women's oppression in the history of contemporary French feminist thought. The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between Le Deuxième Sexe and subsequent developments in feminist theory, within the context of feminism as a political movement. The first part examines the relationship between Beauvoir and materialist feminist theory, as represented in the political essays of Monique Wittig. Secondly, it reassesses the apparent opposition between Beauvoir's ‘egalitarian’ and Irigaray's ‘difference’ feminism. The article concludes by suggesting the possibility of cooperation between these two camps, with a view to reestablishing the links between feminism as theory and as political praxis.
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