An unfulfilled mother displaces her frustrated desires onto her child as compensation.

Evidence

The great risk our mores present for the infant is that the mother to whom he is tied and bound is almost always an unfulfilled woman: sexually she is frigid or unsatisfied; socially she feels inferior to man; she has no hold on the world or the future; she will try to compensate for her frustrations through the child … A mother who beats her child does not only beat the child, and in a way she does not beat him at all: she is taking her vengeance on man, on the world, or on herself; but it is the child who receives the blows. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1515

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the dolls passage in the childhood chapter where girls learn to mother as domination — this is the adult payoff of that training. — connects to: A mother treats her daughter as a double and feels betrayed by her separateness. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1520; A mother’s rejection of a child can disguise self-contempt projected outward. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1525; Uncertainty about paternity can destroy a mother’s attachment to her child (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• A mother treats her daughter as a double and feels betrayed by her separateness. #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1520
• A mother’s rejection of a child can disguise self-contempt projected outward. #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1525