ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that the two most common feminist analyses of incels’ actions, which focus on their objectification of women or their sense of entitlement to women’s attention, are insufficient. It argues that Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist classic, The Second Sex, is a valuable resource in assessing the role of myth in contemporary politics, and particularly in feminism. The book sets out to unpack the Bardot myth and analyze the new model of women’s sexuality that it embodies. It starts with an apparent shift between The Second Sex and Old Age: whereas the former values the authentic pursuit of freedom even in situations of alterity, the latter describes sympathetically many kinds of behavior that Beauvoir would previously have condemned as bad faith. The book explores Beauvoir’s theory of the individual as free and situated in relations with others.
