Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex – Exam Pattern MCQs
1. The Second Sex was first published in: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2018; PGTRB 2020)
A) 1939
B) 1949
C) 1959
D) 1969
Ans: B) 1949
2. The original French title of The Second Sex is: (SET 2017; PGTRB 2019)
A) Le Deuxième Sexe
B) L’Être et le Néant
C) Les Misérables
D) La Nausée
Ans: A) Le Deuxième Sexe
3. Simone de Beauvoir is most closely associated with the philosophical movement of: (UGC NET 2015; SET 2019; PGTRB 2021)
A) Structuralism
B) Existentialism
C) Romanticism
D) Realism
Ans: B) Existentialism
4. The Second Sex is widely considered a foundational text of: (SET 2016; UGC NET 2017; PGTRB 2020)
A) New Criticism
B) Feminist philosophy
C) Formalism
D) Postcolonial theory
Ans: B) Feminist philosophy
5. Beauvoir’s famous claim “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” emphasizes: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2020; PGTRB 2022)
A) Biological determinism
B) Social construction of gender
C) Linguistic determinism
D) Technological determinism
Ans: B) Social construction of gender
6. In Beauvoir’s analysis, woman is historically positioned as: (SET 2018; PGTRB 2021)
A) The Absolute
B) The Subject
C) The Other
D) The Neutral
Ans: C) The Other
7. The term “Otherness” in The Second Sex mainly refers to: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2019)
A) Women defining men as secondary
B) Men defining women in relation to men as norm
C) Women refusing all social roles
D) The end of social hierarchy
Ans: B) Men defining women in relation to men as norm
8. Beauvoir’s method in The Second Sex draws on multiple fields, including: (PGTRB 2019; UGC NET 2016; SET 2020)
A) Biology, history, psychoanalysis, literature
B) Only mathematics and logic
C) Only linguistics
D) Only economics
Ans: A) Biology, history, psychoanalysis, literature
9. The structure of The Second Sex is commonly described as being published in: (SET 2017; UGC NET 2015; PGTRB 2020)
A) A single short chapter
B) Two volumes
C) Five volumes
D) A trilogy only
Ans: B) Two volumes
10. The two broad parts of The Second Sex are best known as: (UGC NET 2016; PGTRB 2018)
A) Nature and Culture
B) Facts and Myths; Lived Experience
C) Truth and Method
D) Text and Context
Ans: B) Facts and Myths; Lived Experience
11. Beauvoir’s key existential pair used to analyze women’s situation is: (SET 2019; PGTRB 2021; UGC NET 2018)
A) Signifier / signified
B) Immanence / transcendence
C) Thesis / antithesis
D) Form / content
Ans: B) Immanence / transcendence
12. In Beauvoir’s terms, “immanence” is associated with women’s historical confinement to: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2020)
A) Creative freedom
B) Public power
C) Domestic repetition and passivity
D) Scientific innovation
Ans: C) Domestic repetition and passivity
13. In Beauvoir’s terms, “transcendence” is most closely linked to: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2018; UGC NET 2016)
A) Pure instinct
B) Action, projects, and freedom
C) Silence and obedience
D) Biological destiny
Ans: B) Action, projects, and freedom
14. Beauvoir argues that “femininity” is best understood as: (UGC NET 2019; SET 2021; PGTRB 2022)
A) A fixed essence
B) A social and historical formation
C) A genetic code
D) A universal constant
Ans: B) A social and historical formation
15. Beauvoir’s overall argument rejects the idea of an inherent “female nature” and emphasizes: (SET 2020; UGC NET 2018)
A) Fate over freedom
B) Freedom over essence
C) Myth over history
D) Biology over society
Ans: B) Freedom over essence
16. Beauvoir’s feminism is often described as: (PGTRB 2019; UGC NET 2017; SET 2019)
A) Existential feminism
B) Purely Marxist feminism
C) Purely psychoanalytic feminism
D) Purely formalist feminism
Ans: A) Existential feminism
17. According to Beauvoir, oppression persists partly because women are encouraged to accept: (SET 2018; PGTRB 2020)
A) Transcendence
B) Immanence as destiny
C) Absolute equality already exists
D) Power as natural
Ans: B) Immanence as destiny
18. Beauvoir critically engages with psychoanalysis, especially the ideas associated with: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2017; PGTRB 2021)
A) Freud
B) Saussure
C) Leavis
D) Ruskin
Ans: A) Freud
19. Beauvoir also critiques the view that women’s destiny is purely determined by: (SET 2019; UGC NET 2018)
A) Syntax
B) Biology
C) Typography
D) Geography
Ans: B) Biology
20. In Beauvoir’s framework, authentic freedom requires: (PGTRB 2022; SET 2020)
A) Submission to tradition
B) Active engagement in projects and choices
C) Rejection of all social relations
D) Silence and withdrawal
Ans: B) Active engagement in projects and choices
21. Beauvoir’s claim “Man is the Subject; woman is the Other” highlights: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2019; PGTRB 2021)
A) Equality achieved
B) Asymmetrical social norm-making
C) Biological sameness
D) Purely linguistic differences
Ans: B) Asymmetrical social norm-making
22. “Myth” in Beauvoir’s analysis refers mainly to: (SET 2018; PGTRB 2020)
A) Scientific facts only
B) Cultural narratives that shape womanhood
C) Grammar rules
D) Legal codes only
Ans: B) Cultural narratives that shape womanhood
23. Beauvoir discusses “woman as absolute Other” using comparisons with: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2017)
A) Dialect and idiolect
B) Colonized/colonizer or master/slave analogies
C) Sonnet and ode
D) Metaphor and metonymy
Ans: B) Colonized/colonizer or master/slave analogies
24. Beauvoir’s existential ethics emphasize that human beings are: (PGTRB 2019; SET 2020)
A) Determined objects
B) Free subjects who must choose
C) Fully predictable machines
D) Unchanging essences
Ans: B) Free subjects who must choose
25. Which of the following best represents Beauvoir’s position on gender roles? (UGC NET 2018; PGTRB 2022)
A) Roles are purely natural
B) Roles are socially enforced and can be changed
C) Roles must never be questioned
D) Roles are irrelevant to freedom
Ans: B) Roles are socially enforced and can be changed
26. The first English edition of The Second Sex is widely associated with the translator: (SET 2017; UGC NET 2016; PGTRB 2021)
A) Ezra Pound
B) H. M. Parshley
C) T. S. Eliot
D) I. A. Richards
Ans: B) H. M. Parshley
27. The first English publication of The Second Sex is commonly dated to: (UGC NET 2015; SET 2018)
A) 1943
B) 1953
C) 1963
D) 1973
Ans: B) 1953
28. Beauvoir’s account of oppression stresses the role of: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2019; UGC NET 2017)
A) Only grammar
B) Social institutions and cultural meanings
C) Only climate
D) Only technology
Ans: B) Social institutions and cultural meanings
29. Beauvoir’s “lived experience” approach is most closely connected to: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2020)
A) Pure formalism
B) Phenomenological description of experience
C) Only statistics
D) Only myth criticism
Ans: B) Phenomenological description of experience
30. Beauvoir argues that oppression of women is maintained when women are denied: (PGTRB 2021; SET 2019; UGC NET 2017)
A) Reading habits
B) Economic and social autonomy
C) Grammar rules
D) Literary taste
Ans: B) Economic and social autonomy
31. In Beauvoir’s analysis, “myth of the Eternal Feminine” refers to: (SET 2018; UGC NET 2019; PGTRB 2022)
A) Women having identical experiences everywhere
B) A fixed idealized essence imposed on women
C) A grammar category
D) A scientific law
Ans: B) A fixed idealized essence imposed on women
32. Beauvoir’s critique of marriage often focuses on marriage as: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2019)
A) Purely liberating institution
B) A social contract that can restrict women’s freedom
C) Only a religious ritual
D) A literary genre
Ans: B) A social contract that can restrict women’s freedom
33. Beauvoir’s overall goal for women is to become: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Passive objects of admiration
B) Free subjects with projects and agency
C) Purely domestic figures
D) Unquestioning followers
Ans: B) Free subjects with projects and agency
34. Beauvoir’s work is often linked to inspiring: (SET 2018; UGC NET 2016; PGTRB 2020)
A) Second-wave feminism
B) Medieval romance
C) Metaphysical poetry
D) Neoclassical satire
Ans: A) Second-wave feminism
35. Beauvoir’s argument is closest to which statement? (UGC NET 2018; SET 2019)
A) Gender roles are timeless and unchangeable
B) Womanhood is produced through social conditioning and history
C) Biology is the only explanation for society
D) Myth has no effect on life
Ans: B) Womanhood is produced through social conditioning and history
36. Beauvoir’s analysis of “Other” is tied to the idea that “man” is treated as: (PGTRB 2019; UGC NET 2017)
A) The deviation
B) The neutral norm / universal
C) The silent margin
D) The mythic figure only
Ans: B) The neutral norm / universal
37. Beauvoir’s approach to “woman” is primarily: (SET 2020; PGTRB 2021)
A) Essentialist
B) Anti-essentialist
C) Purely biological
D) Purely theological
Ans: B) Anti-essentialist
38. Beauvoir’s critique suggests liberation requires changes in: (UGC NET 2016; SET 2018; PGTRB 2022)
A) Only spelling
B) Institutions, culture, and material conditions
C) Only punctuation
D) Only myths with no social reforms
Ans: B) Institutions, culture, and material conditions
39. Which phrase best captures Beauvoir’s idea of freedom? (SET 2019; UGC NET 2018)
A) Freedom is inherited
B) Freedom is exercised through choices and actions
C) Freedom is impossible
D) Freedom means refusing all responsibility
Ans: B) Freedom is exercised through choices and actions
40. Beauvoir’s use of “myth” is closest to: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2018)
A) A set of neutral facts
B) Cultural images/ideals that justify women’s subordination
C) Only ancient Greek stories
D) A biology textbook
Ans: B) Cultural images/ideals that justify women’s subordination
41. The title The Second Sex suggests that women are: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2019; PGTRB 2021)
A) Naturally superior
B) Treated as secondary to men in patriarchal society
C) Outside history
D) Unrelated to society
Ans: B) Treated as secondary to men in patriarchal society
42. Beauvoir’s argument challenges which of the following most directly? (SET 2020; UGC NET 2019)
A) Gender essentialism
B) Linguistic borrowing
C) Sound change
D) Stylistics
Ans: A) Gender essentialism
43. Which statement best fits Beauvoir’s view of “woman” in patriarchal culture? (PGTRB 2019; SET 2018)
A) Woman is defined in herself, independent of men
B) Woman is defined relationally, often as “not-man”
C) Woman is outside culture
D) Woman is identical to man in cultural meaning
Ans: B) Woman is defined relationally, often as “not-man”
44. Beauvoir’s discussion often highlights the tension between freedom and: (UGC NET 2016; PGTRB 2020; SET 2019)
A) Destiny imposed by social structures
B) Typography and layout
C) Metre and rhyme
D) Dialect variation
Ans: A) Destiny imposed by social structures
45. Beauvoir’s concept of “becoming” primarily suggests that gender identity is: (SET 2020; UGC NET 2018; PGTRB 2022)
A) Fixed at birth
B) Produced through lived experience and socialization
C) Only genetic
D) Only theological
Ans: B) Produced through lived experience and socialization
46. Beauvoir’s work is best described as combining philosophy with: (PGTRB 2021; SET 2019)
A) Women’s history and cultural criticism
B) Only phonetics
C) Only etymology
D) Only metrics
Ans: A) Women’s history and cultural criticism
47. In Beauvoir’s view, women’s liberation is closely tied to: (UGC NET 2017; SET 2020; PGTRB 2022)
A) Economic independence and social equality
B) Only religious rituals
C) Only etiquette rules
D) Only language change
Ans: A) Economic independence and social equality
48. Which of the following best summarizes Beauvoir’s critique of patriarchy? (SET 2018; UGC NET 2019)
A) Patriarchy treats women as autonomous Subjects
B) Patriarchy treats women as Others and limits their transcendence
C) Patriarchy eliminates gender roles
D) Patriarchy has no cultural influence
Ans: B) Patriarchy treats women as Others and limits their transcendence
49. The Second Sex is best categorized as: (PGTRB 2020; SET 2019; UGC NET 2016)
A) A medieval romance
B) A work of feminist philosophy and social analysis
C) A pastoral elegy
D) A grammar handbook
Ans: B) A work of feminist philosophy and social analysis
50. The central claim of The Second Sex can be best stated as: (UGC NET 2018; SET 2020; PGTRB 2022)
A) Women are naturally inferior by biology
B) Woman is historically constructed as “Other” and must claim freedom as Subject
C) Gender has no relation to society
D) Myths never shape real life
Ans: B) Woman is historically constructed as “Other” and must claim freedom as Subject
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