Some feminist scholars reject Beauvoir’s claim that womanhood is purely constructed

Evidence

Her single most famous assertion—“One is not born, but rather becomes, woman”—has been disputed by more recent feminist scholars, and a substantial body of research in biology and the social sciences supports their argument that some sexual differences (besides the obvious ones) are innate rather than “situational.” Instead of rejecting “otherness” as an imposed cultural construct, women, in their opinion, should cultivate it as a source of self-knowledge and expression, and use it as the basis to critique patriarchal institutions. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 19

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing later: what is the actual empirical status of ‘innate vs situational’ sexual difference claims decades after this critique?
• XREF: connects to: Beauvoir argued womanhood is socially constructed, not innate — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 669