| Elizabeth Gould Davis | |
| Birth Date: | 1910 |
| Birth Place: | Leavenworth, Kansas, United States |
| Death Place: | Sarasota, Florida |
| Occupation: | Author, librarian |
| Education: | Master's degree in librarianship |
| Alma Mater: | University of Kentucky |
| Period: | 1971 |
| Movement: | Second-wave feminism |
| Notableworks: | The First Sex |
Elizabeth Gould Davis (June 23, 1910 – July 30, 1974) was an American librarian who wrote a feminist book called The First Sex.[1]
Davis was born in Leavenworth, Kansas to Colonel Robert Davis and Edwina Bailey McCarty, one of four daughters. The family traveled extensively when she was growing up.[2] She received her A. B. degree from Randolph-Macon College and, after a brief marriage in 1934, went on to earn her master's degree in librarianship at the University of Kentucky in 1951. She worked as a librarian at Sarasota, Florida, and while there, wrote The First Sex.[3]
Davis had originally intended The First Sex to be "a short essay on wrongs towards women" inspired by the death of her sister in 1968.[4] As she researched, she learned more about historical periods when women were in charge, and about subsequent anti-women prejudices. She argued that congenital killers and criminals have two Y chromosomes, that men say they don't mind women being successful but require femininity when feminine qualities work against success, and that a matriarchy should replace the existing patriarchy.[5] Prof. Ginette Castro criticized Davis' position as grounded "in the purest female chauvinism."[6]
Davis committed suicide on July 30, 1974, by shooting herself. According to feminist author Andrea Dworkin, Davis' suicide was largely impacted by the rape she underwent a few years prior in 1971, as well as the cancer she suffered from.[7] Her papers are held by the Charles E. Young Research Library at UCLA.[8]