A woman’s early erotic experiences rupture her past and shape her entire destiny

Evidence

In a sense, woman’s sexual initiation, like man’s, begins in infancy. There is a theoretical and practical initiation period that follows continuously from the oral, anal, and genital phases up to adulthood. But the young girl’s erotic experiences are not a simple extension of her previous sexual activities; they are very often unexpected and brutal; they always constitute a new occurrence that creates a rupture with the past. While she is going through them, all the problems the young girl faces are concentrated in an urgent and acute form. In some cases, the crisis is easily resolved; there are tragic situations where the crisis can only be resolved through suicide or madness. In any case, the way woman reacts to the experiences strongly affects her destiny. All psychiatrists agree on the extreme importance her erotic beginnings have for her: their repercussions will be felt for the rest of her life. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 944

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with Freudian continuity models of psychosexual development that Beauvoir is implicitly challenging here. — connects to: The woman in love re-experiences infantile guilt turned inward as masochism — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1863

Broader Connections

• The woman in love re-experiences infantile guilt turned inward as masochism #qualifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1863