--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Women- except in abstract gatherings such…" description: "\"“Women- except in abstract gatherings such as conferences- do not use \"we\"; men say \"women,\" and women adopt this word to refer to themselves; but they..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/simone-de-beauvoir-407_feminism_women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such_174114.jpg" --- # Women- except in abstract gatherings such as conferences… ![“Women- except in abstract gatherings such as conferences- do not use "we"; men say "women," and women adopt this word to refer to themselves; but they do not posit themselves authentically as Subjects.” quote by Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/simone-de-beauvoir-407_feminism_women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such_174114.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/simone-de-beauvoir-407_feminism_women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such_174114.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/simone-de-beauvoir-407_feminism_women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such_174114.jpg) > ““Women- except in abstract gatherings such as conferences- do not use "we"; men say "women," and women adopt this word to refer to themselves; but they do not posit themselves authentically as Subjects.”” [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Women often speak about themselves in the third person, reflecting societal norms that deny them full subjectivity. **In simple terms:** Women are described by others rather than speaking as subjects. Key Takeaway Recognize and assert personal agency. Themes gender language identity subjectivity social norms Mood reflective critical empowering Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - academic conferences - media representation - everyplace discussions - personal narratives Key Concepts feminist theory speech acts self-representation Questions to Reflect On - How does language shape your sense of self? - What steps can you take to claim subjectivity? 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Women are like...thunderstorms. They're beautiful to look at, and sometimes they're nice to listen to-but most of the time they're just plain inconvenient.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brandon-sanderson/women-women-are-like-thunderstorms-they-re-beautiful-to-look-at-and/) [Brandon Sanderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brandon-sanderson/) > [Classy and classic women are the women to go for .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/classy-and-classic-women-are-the-women-to-go-for/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [We've shown again and again, in every UN report on the status of women, that wherever women control their own bodies and have access…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erica-jong/we-ve-shown-again-and-again-in-every-un-report-on-the-status-of-women/) [Erica Jong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erica-jong/) > [Everyone knows 'Little Women.' Most women love it if they've read it. 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Why? The “integrated” agency will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yoram-wind/women-will-be-at-least-50-percent-of-the-communications-community/) [Yoram Wind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yoram-wind/) [Browse all 15,705 Feminism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feminism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Women- except in abstract gatherings such as conferences- do not use \"we\"; men say \"women,\" and women adopt this word to refer to themselves; but they do not posit themselves authentically as Subjects.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Simone de Beauvoir" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such-as-conferences-do-not-use-we/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Feminism" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such-as-conferences-do-not-use-we/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/simone-de-beauvoir-407_feminism_women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such_174114.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/simone-de-beauvoir-407_feminism_women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such_174114.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/bd3/simone-de-beauvoir-407_feminism_women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such_174114.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Women- except in abstract gatherings such as conferences- do not use \"we\"; men say \"women,\" and women adopt…” — Simone de Beauvoir", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Simone de Beauvoir", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Women- except in abstract gatherings such...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such-as-conferences-do-not-use-we/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/women-except-in-abstract-gatherings-such-as-conferences-do-not-use-we/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```