“A man never begins by presenting himself as an individual of a certain sex; it goes without saying that he is a man.  The terms masculine and feminine are used symmetrically only as a matter of form, as on legal papers.  In actuality the relation of the two sexes is not quite like that of two electrical poles, for a man represents both the positive and the neutral, as indicated by the common use of man to designate human beings in general; whereas woman represents only the negative, defined by limiting criteria, without reciprocity.

“In the midst of an abstract discussion it is vexing to hear a man say: ‘You think thus an so because you are a woman.’; but I know that my only defense is to reply: ‘I think thus and so because it is true,’ thereby removing my subjective self from the argument.  It would be out of the question to reply: ‘And you think thus and so because you are a man,’ for it is understood that the fact of being a man is no peculiarity.  A man is in the right in being a man; it is the woman who is in the wrong.”

– Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex