In The Second Sex, the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir notes that the fate of women has been mainly determined by their anatomy; young girls are reared to find husbands and have children with them. However, she also identifies a few alternatives: homosexuality is one option. Beauvoir argues that, for a woman, homosexuality, “is one attempt among others to reconcile her autonomy with the passivity of her flesh.” In this week’s P4L, we will explore Beauvoir's figure of the lesbian, and reflect on the benefits as well as the limits of her account.