Simone de Beauvoir

It has recently been discovered that Simone de Beauvoir had a lucrative side career in the advertising world. Readers familiar with her magnum opus The Second Sex will recognize the quote in the picture at left.

Located in the context of the book, de Beauvoir argues that the category "woman" is not predicated on some sort of biological essence that somehow naturally unfolds itself. Rather, one’s membership in the category is based upon successful participation in a set of social and cultural processes whereby one comes to embody the appropriate feminine attributes, and therefore is a woman. De Beauvoir says that the symmetry between the terms "masculinity" and "femininity" is only apparent. Using the imagery of the terminals of an electrical pole, masculinity is both the positive and the neutral, while femininity is solely the negative pole. As an achievement, "femininity" is truly double-edged.

In the context of a storefront window advertising jeans, one might wonder if Simone de Beauvoir was appealing to the original meaning or was using this ironically. Regardless of her intentions, its meaning is open to a number of interpretations. And ambiguity sells.