The Second Sex Lesson Plan

The Pink Aisle

Kind of Activity:

Classwide Discussion

Objective:

To asses contemporary relevance of De Beauvoir’s analysis of female childhood

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.2, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7

Structure:

De Beauvoir describes in details what she sees as the socializing of girls in a particular way from a very young age. In recent years, there has been a big push against ‘the pink aisle,’ meaning very explicitly ‘girly’ toys pushing a singular image of femininity onto young girls, which is very close to the Eternal Feminine described by De Beauvoir.

Have students reflect on their own childhoods and record what...