One is not born but rather becomes woman. First published in Paris in 1949 The Second Sex" by Simone de Beavoir was a groundbreaking risque book that became a runaway success. Selling 20 000 copies in its first week the book earned its author both notoriety & admiration. Since then " The Second Sex" has been translated into forty languages & has become a landmark in the history of feminism. Required reading for anyone who believes in the equality of the sexes the central messages of " The Second Sex" are as important today as they were for the housewives of the forties."