The Second Sex - Quiz
  • 1. Which book inspired Betty Friedan's 'The Feminine Mystique'?
A) The French Woman
B) The Political Woman
C) The Second Sex
D) The First Sex
  • 2. In what year was 'The Second Sex' originally published?
A) 1953
B) 1949
C) 1967
D) 1963
  • 3. What was the profession of H. M. Parshley, the original translator of 'The Second Sex'?
A) Philosopher
B) Novelist
C) Zoologist
D) Political scientist
  • 4. Which company holds the English publication rights to 'The Second Sex'?
A) Penguin Books
B) Simon & Schuster
C) HarperCollins
D) Alfred A. Knopf, Inc
  • 5. What did the French Parliament decide to legalize in 1967 under strict qualifications?
A) Abortion
B) Contraception
C) Divorce
D) Suffrage
  • 6. Who specifically requested a more faithful and complete translation of her work in 1985?
A) Simone de Beauvoir
B) Constance Borde
C) Betty Friedan
D) Toril Moi
  • 7. When was the new, more complete translation of 'The Second Sex' published?
A) November 2000
B) November 2009
C) November 1990
D) November 1985
  • 8. According to the text, which individual is noted as a vocal critic of the original 1953 translation?
A) H. M. Parshley
B) Betty Friedan
C) Sheila Malovany-Chevallier
D) Toril Moi
  • 9. What was a major concern for the French regarding the expansion of equality?
A) It would decrease the population
B) It was considered detrimental to French morals
C) It would cause economic instability
D) It would lead to excessive tax burdens
  • 10. Social feminists stressed which concept as opposed to simple equality?
A) Total uniformity
B) Gender differences
C) Economic isolation
D) Complete assimilation
  • 11. How did European women's political representation compare to the United States by the 1990s?
A) They held six to seven times more legislative seats
B) They held fewer seats
C) They held equal seats
D) They held twice as many seats
  • 12. What was a common belief regarding the historical context of the times?
A) A society designed for men was the only way to ensure order
B) A society designed for men was irrelevant to women
C) A society designed for men harmed the interests of society
D) A society designed for men was the most efficient model
  • 13. What did critics complain about regarding the 1953 translation?
A) It contained excised text and mistranslated philosophical concepts
B) It was too long and verbose
C) It was written in an outdated dialect
D) It was published in the wrong country
  • 14. Who were the translators of the 2009 edition of 'The Second Sex'?
A) Simone de Beauvoir and Toril Moi
B) H. M. Parshley and Betty Friedan
C) Constance Borde and Sheila Malovany-Chevallier
D) Alfred A. Knopf and a team of zoologists
  • 15. What did the 2009 translation successfully restore according to literary critics?
A) The author's personal diary entries
B) The publisher's original marketing notes
C) The original French language introduction
D) Sections of the text missing from the Parshley edition
  • 16. In which country was the Spanish-language translation of The Second Sex printed?
A) France
B) Spain
C) Argentina
D) Mexico
  • 17. In what year was The Second Sex banned in Francoist Spain?
A) 1966
B) 1955
C) 1998
D) 1949
  • 18. When was a full Castilian Spanish translation of The Second Sex finally published?
A) 1980
B) 1998
C) 1955
D) 1966
  • 19. Which religious organization added The Second Sex to its list of prohibited books?
A) The Lutheran Church
B) The Catholic Church
C) The Church of England
D) The Orthodox Church
  • 20. What is the name of the Catholic Church's list of prohibited books?
A) The Vatican Archives
B) Index Librorum Prohibitorum
C) The Papal Edicts
D) The Forbidden Ledger
  • 21. In what year was the policy of prohibition for the Index Librorum Prohibitorum abolished?
A) 1966
B) 1975
C) 1955
D) 1998
  • 22. How many copies of The Second Sex were sold in the first week of its French publication?
A) 5,000
B) 10,000
C) 22,000
D) 50,000
  • 23. Into how many languages has The Second Sex been translated?
A) 60
B) 20
C) 100
D) 40
  • 24. Which institution placed The Second Sex on its List of Prohibited Books?
A) The French Academy
B) The Vatican
C) The Sorbonne
D) The United Nations
  • 25. Who famously reacted to The Second Sex with what Beauvoir called 'typical Mediterranean machismo'?
A) Francis Jeanson
B) Sartre
C) Kinsey
D) Camus
  • 26. Which author of The Feminine Mystique was influenced by Beauvoir's attack on psychoanalysis?
A) Kate Millett
B) Germaine Greer
C) Stevie Smith
D) Betty Friedan
  • 27. Who wrote The Female Eunuch in 1970?
A) Kate Millett
B) Betty Friedan
C) Germaine Greer
D) Camille Paglia
  • 28. What is the famous formulation attributed to Beauvoir in The Second Sex?
A) Equality is a natural state of human existence
B) Gender is a biological destiny
C) One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman
D) Women are born, not made
  • 29. How did Borde and Malovany-Chevallier translate the famous formulation in their English version?
A) One is born, not made, a woman
B) One is not born, but rather becomes, a female
C) One is not born, but rather becomes, woman
D) Woman is a construct of nature
  • 30. Which British poet remarked that Beauvoir wrote an enormous book about women but did not like them?
A) Stevie Smith
B) Kate Millett
C) C. B. Radford
D) Francis Jeanson
  • 31. According to David M. Halperin, what does Beauvoir idealize in The Second Sex?
A) The role of the mother
B) Traditional marriage
C) Sexual relations between women
D) Psychoanalytic practices
  • 32. Which book did Camille Paglia write that was inspired by Beauvoir's sweep through time?
A) The Female Eunuch
B) Sexual Politics
C) Sexual Personae
D) Free Women, Free Men
  • 33. In how many volumes was 'The Second Sex' originally published?
A) Three
B) Two
C) Four
D) One
  • 34. Which term does Beauvoir use to describe how men define women in relation to themselves?
A) The Equal
B) The Superior
C) The Other
D) The Neutral
  • 35. Which author's claims about the historical defeat of the female sex due to private property does Beauvoir reject?
A) Friedrich Engels
B) Auguste Comte
C) Alfred Adler
D) Sigmund Freud
  • 36. Beauvoir notes that in which ancient society were there no restraints on women's freedom?
A) Susa
B) Rome
C) Sparta
D) Athens
  • 37. What is described as 'holding away death but also refusing life'?
A) Housecleaning
B) Teaching
C) Prostitution
D) Childbirth
  • 38. According to the text, what is the 'highest form of freedom' a woman-parasite can achieve?
A) Stoic defiance or skeptical irony
B) Total financial independence
C) Political activism
D) Marriage
  • 39. How long did Beauvoir research and write 'The Second Sex'?
A) About 5 years
B) About 6 months
C) About 2 years
D) About 14 months
  • 40. What does Beauvoir identify as a key concept of the female universe, implying perfection of immobility?
A) Harmony
B) Immanence
C) Evolution
D) Transcendence
  • 41. Which historical event does Beauvoir note promised equality but did not deliver?
A) The Soviet revolution
B) The Industrial Revolution
C) The French Revolution
D) The American Revolution
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