In I’ve been reading Simone de Beauvoir, artist Sherry Wiggins acts as both subject and artist as she intertwines her life with the life and writing of French writer, feminist, and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir in a work that examines the ambiguous process of feminine identity construction as both intellectual challenge and real life situation. The video introduces de Beauvoir’s complex and often contradictory concepts of the subject and other, and  love and intersubjectivity, as explained in her major feminist text on the historically subservient position of women, The Second Sex. The work then incorporates text excerpts from The Second Sex and includes photos from each subject’s life, in addition to biographical scenarios and voice-overs to  explore and illuminate the difficulties and successes of being a woman and a feminist.