Denied liberty, woman mistakes opaque destiny for necessity and so cannot believe in liberation.

Evidence

Only a free subject, asserting himself beyond time, can foil destruction; this supreme recourse is forbidden to the woman. It is mainly because she has never experienced the powers of liberty that she does not believe in liberation: the world to her seems governed by an obscure destiny against which it is presumptuous to react. These dangerous paths that she is compelled to follow are ones she herself has not traced: it is understandable that she does not take them enthusiastically. When the future is open to her, she no longer hangs on to the past. When women are concretely called to action, when they identify with the designated aims, they are as strong and brave as men. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1744

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The closing reversal — resigned women regain strength when the future opens — is a compact, paradigm-level statement of Beauvoir’s whole situational argument, resisting easy summary.
• APHORISMS: ‘When the future is open to her, she no longer hangs on to the past’ reads as durable life-wisdom about why apparent conservatism is situational rather than essential.
• XREF: connects to: Granting woman freedom while denying her transcendence yields only negative freedom — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 406; A woman’s worst affliction is failing to recognize her condition as a woman — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 673; Blocked transcendence leaves woman unable to be defined by her acts — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 662

Broader Connections

• Granting woman freedom while denying her transcendence yields only negative freedom #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 406
• Blocked transcendence leaves woman unable to be defined by her acts #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 662
• A woman’s worst affliction is failing to recognize her condition as a woman #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 673