Aphids

Aphids are cited in Simone de Beauvoir’s account of reproduction as an example of parthenogenesis: males can be absent for several generations while unfertilized eggs produce females. Their brief appearance serves a larger argument. Biological arrangements vary, so biological difference alone cannot establish a social hierarchy or determine women’s situation.

Reproduction Without Males

In describing reproduction across living organisms, Beauvoir notes that some species reproduce without male intervention. Aphids provide a specific instance: during a number of generations, males are absent and unfertilized eggs produce females. She places this example alongside honeybees, in which unfertilized eggs produce drones, to show that parthenogenesis can operate in different ways across species.

The Example in a Biological Debate

The aphid example appears within a broader discussion of whether sexual reproduction is indispensable. Some biologists had argued that the mixing of parental chromosomes renews genetic diversity and benefits a species’ vigor. Beauvoir contrasts that hypothesis with observations that asexual multiplication can continue indefinitely without noticeable degeneration, and points to aphids as evidence that males may be absent for multiple generations. The example does not, by itself, settle every question about reproduction; it helps undermine the assumption that male participation is universally necessary.

From Biological Difference to Social Meaning

Beauvoir’s use of aphids belongs to her distinction between biological data and the social meanings people attach to them. She argues that the body is an essential element of a person’s situation, but does not alone define that situation or explain why woman is placed in the position of the Other. That question, she maintains, must also be examined through history and society. Aphids thus contribute a limited but pointed comparison: reproductive biology offers varied arrangements, and cannot on its own supply a fixed justification for human social roles.