Manon Garcia
Manon Garcia is a French philosopher, specializing in feminist philosophy. Her 2021 book We Are Not Born Submissive has been translated into several languages besides English, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, German and Spanish.
Early life and education
Garcia studied at the École normale supérieure and completed her doctorate at the University of Paris I - Panthéon Sorbonne with a thesis on the thought of Simone de Beauvoir.Career
Manon Garcia has held academic positions at several leading universities, including Harvard University, the University of Chicago, and Yale University. In 2022, she became a junior professor at the Freie Universität Berlin.Her first book, We Are Not Born Submissive, originally published in French as On ne naît pas soumise, on le devient, explores the concept of female submission. Garcia distinguishes between submission imposed by force and submission that involves a form of cost–benefit analysis. She argues that the latter should not be attributed to a supposedly innate "feminine nature", but rather to social and cultural conditioning. Drawing on the work of Simone de Beauvoir, Garcia highlights the complexity of agency and consent within patriarchal contexts.
In 2021, she published a second book, The Joy of Consent, in which she examines the ethical and emotional dimensions of sexual consent. Garcia critiques simplistic understandings of consent and advocates for a "contextually sensitive approach" that considers power dynamics, vulnerability, and mutual desire.
Following her attendance at part of the trial involving multiple convictions for the rape of Gisèle Pelicot, Garcia published Living with Men: Reflections on the Pelicot Trial in 2025. In the book, she reflects on masculinity, violence, and societal complicity, drawing philosophical insights from the testimony and media coverage surrounding the case.
Publications
In English
*In French
On ne naît pas soumise, on le devient. Climats, 2018La Conversation des sexes: Philosophie du consentement. Climats, 2021- 'Key texts of feminist philosophy', Vrin, "Key Texts", 2021Vivre avec les hommes: Réflexions sur le procès Pelicot. Climats, 2025
- "De l'oppression à l'indépendance. La philosophie de l'amour dans Le Deuxième Sexe." Philosophie 144 48–63