A privileged man’s pity toward disadvantaged women makes him prey to their demands.

Evidence

There is nonetheless one advantage woman can gain from her very inferiority: since from the start she has fewer chances than man, she does not feel a priori guilty toward him; it is not up to her to compensate for social injustice, and she is not called upon to do so. A man of goodwill feels it his duty to “help” women because he is more favored than they are; he will let himself be caught up in scruples or pity, and he risks being the prey of “clinging” or “devouring” women because they are at a disadvantage. The woman who achieves a virile independence has the great privilege of dealing sexually with autonomous and active individuals who—generally—will not play a parasite’s role in her life, who will not bind her by their weaknesses and the demands of their needs. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1933

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the surprising ‘advantage’ of the woman’s original inferiority: exemption from guilt, and the reciprocal trap of the privileged man’s pity.
• XREF: Connects to the broader Sartrean/Existentialist theme of freedom and bad faith, and to the ‘devouring woman’ motif in European misogynist literature. — connects to: The husband becomes the concrete target of woman’s powerless revolt against male privilege — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1749; Pity toward disadvantaged groups can reinforce inequality by implying incompetence. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2273; Pity toward the oppressed can destroy human dignity more certainly than misery itself does (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Positive feelings like pity can reinforce inequality #corroborates (0.90) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2273
• Pity toward disadvantaged groups can reinforce inequality by implying incompetence. #qualifies (0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2273
• Pity toward the oppressed can destroy human dignity more certainly than misery itself does #expands (0.85)
• Sympathy for the oppressed can coexist with damaging representation of them #expands (0.85) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 245
• Forced parasitism turns woman into a necessary exploiter of man #corroborates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1758
• Pity presupposes inequality while empathy requires equal standing #expands (0.80) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 518