The Second Sex
The rise of second wave feminism in the United States spawned by Betty Friedan’s book, "The Feminine Mystique", which was inspired by Simone de Beauvoir’s, "The Second Sex," took significantly longer to reach and impact the lives of European women. Even though "The Second Sex" was published in 1949 and "Feminine Mystique" was published in 1963, the French were concerned that expanding equality to include matters of the family was detrimental to French morals. In 1966, abortion in Europe was still illegal and contraception was extremely difficult to access. Many were afraid that legalization would “take from men “the proud consciousness of their virility” and make women “no more than objects of sterile voluptuousness””. The French Parliament in 1967 decided to legalize contraception but only under strict qualifications.