Close female friendship threatens romantic love because the friend identifies with the lover’s desire.

Evidence

The confidante is invited to see through the eyes of the woman in love, to feel with her heart, with her flesh: she is attracted by the lover, fascinated by the man who seduces her friend; she feels protected enough by her loyalty to let her feelings go; she does not like playing an inessential role: soon she is ready to surrender, to offer herself. Many women prudently avoid their “intimate girlfriends” as soon as they fall in love. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1605

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘betrayed by best friend’ theme here has resonances with the rivalry literature and with the immanence/transcendence structure. — connects to: Female friendship offers women a valued intimacy that marriage to men cannot match
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Female friendship offers women a valued intimacy that marriage to men cannot match

Broader Connections

• Female friendship offers women a valued intimacy that marriage to men cannot match #corroborates (0.85)