"From somewhere way beyond this domestic claustrophobia, ... came a different message: 'The Second Sex' argued in confident, defiant tone that women's fate was invented not inherited. Marriage was depicted as servitude, and housework was exposed in minute detail as unrewarded drudgery comparable to the punishment of Sisyphus. De Beauvoir argued that maternity was not the sugary experience it was made out to be, but painful, constricting and sometimes a disaster."
From: "Simone de Beauvoir. A Re-Reading" (Judith Okely)
"In contrast to the stereotype of the derided spinster, de Beauvoir introduced the ideal of an independent woman who could earn her own living, reject marriage and possibly maternity without experiencing stigma and celibacy." (7)
