Deprived of action, women express themselves through fanatical defense of inherited causes

Evidence

If the idols her father, brothers, and husband propose are knocked down, she cannot imagine any way of repopulating the heavens; she is determined to defend them. Among the Southerners during the Civil War, no one was as passionately in favor of slavery as the women; in England during the Boer War, and in France against the Commune, it was the women who were the most enraged; they seek to compensate for their inaction by the force of the feelings they display; in victory they are as wild as hyenas against the beaten enemy; in defeat, they bitterly refuse any arrangement; as their ideas are only attitudes, they do not mind defending the most outdated causes: they can be legitimists in 1914, tsarists in 1949. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1743

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: can any actual historical survey confirm that women were the most intransigent slavery defenders, or is this a stereotype Beauvoir absorbs from sources?
• SHARE: The slavery-defenders, legitimists-in-1914, tsarists-in-1949 list is a striking compendium for anyone interested in political nostalgia and reactionary affect.
• XREF: connects to: Midlife women erupt into compensating desires and acts because they never freely chose goals. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1711; Women’s “revelations” are peace, not freedom, because they lack action — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1764; Blocked from action, women turn to self-expression as a means of self-assertion (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Blocked from action, women turn to self-expression as a means of self-assertion #expands (0.88)
• When denied real action, women substitute theatrical self-display for action #exemplifies (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1818