Simone de Beauvoir: Famous French Feminist

French writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir was born on this day in 1908. Her seminal book, The Second Sex, is considered by many to have launched the contemporary feminist movement. PARIS Simone de Beauvoir, 1952. Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

PARIS Simone de Beauvoir, 1952. Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos

PARIS Simone de Beauvoir, 1947. Henri Cartier-Bresson / Magnum Photos

PARIS Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir at La Coupole brasserie, 1969. Bruno Barbey / Magnum Photos

PARIS Jean-Paul Sartre with Simone de Beauvoir in the background, 1970. Bruno Barbey / Magnum Photos

PARIS French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre, with Simone de Beauvoir in the background, and other intellectuals hold a press conference at the printing house of the Maoist newspaper La Cause du Peuple, which the government banned, 1970. Bruno Barbey / Magnum Photos

PARIS From left to right, director Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Simone de Beauvoir at the printing house of the Maoist newspaper La Cause du Peuple, 1970. Bruno Barbey / Magnum Photos

PARIS Simone de Beauvoir sells copies of the Maoist newspaper La Cause du Peuple, 1970. Bruno Barbey / Magnum Photos

PARIS Simone de Beauvoir at a demonstration for women's rights, 1971. Gilles Peress / Magnum Photos

PARIS Simone de Beauvoir at the funeral of Jean-Paul Sartre, 1980. Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photos