Woman’s mystery reflects that essence does not precede existence

Evidence

The fact is, deciding who she is would be quite awkward for her; the question has no answer; but it is not that the hidden truth is too fluctuating to be circumscribed: in this area there is no truth. An existent is nothing other than what he does; the possible does not exceed the real, essence does not precede existence: in his pure subjectivity, the human being is nothing. He is measured by his acts. It can be said that a peasant woman is a good or bad worker, that an actress has or does not have talent: but if a woman is considered in her immanent presence, absolutely nothing can be said about that, she is outside of the realm of qualification. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 662

Categorization

• DEFINE: Beauvoir applies the existentialist axiom ‘existence precedes essence’ to dissolve the question of woman’s nature; the human being is nothing but his acts.
• XREF: Direct application of Sartre’s ‘existence precedes essence’ and the Being-for-others dynamic; this is the core Beauvoir-Sartre continuity for the Continental lineage. — connects to: An essence is radically severed from the single appearance that manifests it; Essence is one’s accumulated past, made by living rather than predetermined.