Desiring woman as transfigured nature drives men to make her artificial
Evidence
But in any case, the more the traits and proportions of a woman seemed contrived, the more she delighted the heart of man because she seemed to escape the metamorphosis of natural things. The result is this strange paradox that by desiring to grasp nature, but transfigured, in woman, man destines her to artifice. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 351
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: The central paradox — wanting nature means manufacturing artifice — is generative and dense; it inverts the natural/artificial opposition the whole beauty industry runs on.
- SEED: Angle for an essay: the paradox of transfigured nature — how the demand for authenticity in women produces the most extreme artifice — maps onto contemporary influencer ‘effortless’ aesthetics.
- XREF: connects to: Civilization’s bondage breeds longing that becomes worship of a transfigured nature; Femininity is an artificial, inculcated product rather than a natural instinct — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1037; Men transform woman from flesh into an ethereal ideal, denying her body — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 383 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Femininity is an artificial, inculcated product rather than a natural instinct
#expands(0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1037 - Conquering nature is mythically gendered as conquering woman
#corroborates(0.85) - Men transform woman from flesh into an ethereal ideal, denying her body
#corroborates(0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 383 - Man feminizes the ideal Other because woman is the tangible figure of alterity
#expands(0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 383